Use of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Bottles Waste as Partial Substitute for Sand in Cement-based Mortar Applications

Abstract

The amounts of PET bottles waste are steadily increasing globally. In Sudan the PET bottles wastes average per year for the years 2003 -2015 amounts to 38336 ton, and estimated to reach in total to 500000 ton by the year 2015. The main objective of the current work is to recycle the PET bottles waste as a partial substitute to sand in mortar compositions. Four variables were selected to study the effectiveness of the application of PET waste in cement based compositions: PET amount, water amount, gum amount and material size. Many applications for the mortar including PET were tested such as: blocks, bricks, plaster, binding bricks mortar. Best conditions for the tested variables with 20% PET amount are: 8% water amount, 1% gum amount and 4,76mm size of the PET material. The resulting products from the PET mortar compositions give comparable performance against both compressive and splitting strength. The results were analyzed statistically using T-test for the mean comparison of the tested samples and standard ones. Economical analysis insures that replacing sand by PET is not feasible unless being supported by governmental polices. But from environmental point of view the application is feasible as it enables to recycle the PET waste and saves the environment from its hazards.