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 Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Recycling plastic waste materials for building and construction

Materials: A minireview
Joan Nyika ⇑, Megersa Dinka
University of Johannesburg, Department of Civil Engineering Science, APK Campus 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The production of plastic wastes is a growing environmental problem in the era of industrialization and
Available online xxxx economic growth due to the varied applications of polymeric materials. The wastes, which are mainly
landfilled pollute land and waste resources due to the toxic and resistant to biodegradation nature of
Keywords: their components. Therefore, innovative approaches to channel plastic wastes away from landfills are
Building imperative. In this mini-review, recycling of plastic wastes to materials useful in the building and con-
Construction struction sector as a viable solution to their environmental accumulation was focused on. Using pre-
Environment
existent empirical studies, it was established that plastics can be used alone or in combination with other
Plastic waste materials
Pollution
materials at varied percentage compositions to make various building and construction materials. These
Recycling include bricks, blocks, tiles, asphalt, bitumen, geosynthetics, door panels, insulation materials and cemen-
Sustainability titious composites. These applications are enhancers to environmental sustainability as they reduce the
mining and transport of conventional building and construction materials, which result to atmospheric
pollution. It was noted that there was need to commercialize the applications by advancing to better plas-
tic harvesting technologies and cost-effective recycling approaches for wastes with a variety of plastics.
Assessing the lifecycle of recycling plastic materials for building and construction in addition to devising
regulations to standardize the processes involved was recommended to validate the ability of the
advances to enhance sustainability.
Copyright Ó 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Materials, Processing & Characterization.

1. Introduction
In modern day era of urbanization and industrialization, gener-
ation of solid wastes is on the rise and so is its disposal at landfills
with limited efforts to reuse or recycle it [1]. Consequently, land-
filling costs have risen alongside its large-space consumption and
ineffectiveness leading to the plastic menace globally [2]. A large
portion of the solid waste constitutes of plastics whose uses are
multiple and diverse and extend to healthcare, packaging, manu-
facturing and automotive industries. Annually, more than 300 mil-
lion metric tons of plastic wastes are generated [3] and out of this
total, only 8% is treated via incineration, 7% is recycled and the rest
is landfilled [4]. Another study reported that more than 850, 000
tons of plastic waste was not managed scientifically in 2010 and
the quantities were expected to rise to about 2.5 million tons by
2020 [5]. In 2012, more than 280 million tons of plastic wastes
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: joashmada2011@gmail.com (J. Nyika).
were produced globally and only 130 million tons of the total were
recycled and landfilled [6]. The rest were littered in our environs or
in large water bodies resulting to negative environmental effects
such as soil pollution through the release of toxic chemicals, hin-
dered groundwater movement and its pollution, marine pollution,
imbalanced water and aquatic life survival and low aesthetic value
of the environmental just to mention a few [7]. The COVID-19 pan-
demic has further exacerbated the situation by encouraging plastic
uses to make sanitizer dispensers, masks, gloves and personal pro-
tective equipment (PPE) kits leading to the ‘pandemic of plastic
pollution’ phenomenon [8].
The indispensable use of plastics in modern day along with lim-
ited management mostly through landfilling is creating havoc
globally [9] and the only viable solution to control their associated
pollution is by reducing disposal while maximizing on reuse and
recycling [8]. Noting that post-consumer plastic is not preferred
today, Da Silva et al. [10] also advocated for innovative decontam-
ination of plastics through their recycling to useful materials and
application of upcycling processes. One of the suggested initiatives

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.04.226
2214-7853/Copyright Ó 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials, Processing & Characterization.

Please cite this article as: J. Nyika and M. Dinka, Recycling plastic waste materials for building and construction Materials: A minireview, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.04.226
J. Nyika and M. Dinka
is by recycling plastic waste materials to make building and con-
struction materials. A number of studies have hailed the advance
due to its positive contribution towards sustainable environmental
management through reduced disposal of waste at landfill and
water bodies as well as the valorization of such waste materials
[1,7,8,10,11]. Through the recycling of these plastics, marine life
will be conserved and energy consumption for the manufacture
of new plastics along with landfilling space to dispose such wastes
will be saved [1]. This mini-review therefore focuses on various
plastics recycled to make construction and building materials,
the resultant products of recycling, the progress in this initiative
and future prospect of recycling plastics towards such uses. The
significance of the study is to advocate for recycling of plastic
wastes towards eco-friendly management of such wastes and in
controlling the negative environmental effects resulting from their
pollution. The motivation of the study is from the inevitable nature
in plastic use and plastic waste generation despite the aforemen-
tioned effects of the wastes on land and water resources. The study
also seeks to inform regulators and participants of plastic waste
recycling initiatives of the considerations to make to enhance the
success of such undertakings.
2. Processes involved in recycling plastics
Recycling of plastics involves many processes including collect-
ing the wastes from the point of production or disposal, sorting,
compressing, crushing and pelletizing them to raw materials.
These procedures are followed by their thermal, chemical or
mechanical processing to final product. For this reason, the recy-
cling of plastic waste is intricate and less preferred compared to
other materials such as aluminium, glass, ceramics and paper
[12]. Chemical, thermal or mechanical recycling of plastic wastes
begins with their automated sorting using techniques such as spec-
Fig. 1. Processes involved in the recycling of plastics [1]
Table 1
The characteristics of recyclable plastics and general applications of their wastes [7,11]
Plastic Type Properties
PVC Elastic, transparent and flexible
PS Glossy, transparent, stiff and brittle
PP Flexible and hard
PET Fiber-like, transparent solid
HDPE Colored and sometimes white plastics
Low DPE Mostly white, flexible and soft
Polyethylene (PE) Tough, translucent, water proof, semi-rigid and
chemical resistance
Polyamides (PA) Nylons
Polymethyl Transparent, durable, chemical resistant and
methacrylate with high UV light
(PMMA)
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
troscopy, infrared, fluorescence, flootation and elctrostatics [1].
Through shredding and grinding, plastic wastes are degraded dur-
ing mechanical recycling [13]. The method is however not prefer-
able if the mixture of wastes is complex and instead, incineration
is preferred [14]. During chemical recycling of plastic wastes, they
are metabolized into monomers or smaller chains and chemically
modified to convert them to virgin raw materials used to make
new products. Thermal processes work by heating plastic wastes
at high temperatures to melt them and using the resultant mould
to remanufacture new products. Fig. 1 summarizes the processes
involved in the recycling of plastics.
3. Types of plastic wastes used in making building and
construction materials and their uses
3.1. Types of recyclable plastic wastes
Although plastics are largely categorized as thermosets and
thermoplastics based on the ability to be remolded to their original
form following heat exposure [11], some hard plastics waste cate-
gories have been channeled for recycling. These include polyvinyl
chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) [1]
among others. In a comparative study by Eriksen and Astrup [15]
to evaluate the recyclability potentials of the plastic wastes, it
was established that their characteristics influence such advances.
In terms of sorting, PVC was the easiest to sort while PET was the
lowest. The reprocessing capacity of PET, PS, HDPE and PP was very
high compared to PVC while the recycling potential of PET was the
lowest compared to PP, HDPE and PS. The specific characteristics of
recyclable plastic wastes and their applications are as shown in
Table 1 [7,11].
3.2. Plastic wastes recycled for building and construction materials
Plastic wastes can be used in the manufacture of building and
construction materials. Kamaruddin et al. [7] noted that such
advances are greener options to manage the waste. In this context,
various uses of plastic wastes in the building and construction sec-
tor are discussed based on existent empirical studies. Additionally,
the specific plastic wastes and their processing is highlighted.
3.2.1. Plastic wastes in manufacture of Blocks, tiles and bricks
A variety of plastic wastes have been used in the manufacture of
bricks, tiles and blocks. The plastics are used with other building
materials such foundry sand, recycled glass, clayey sand, construc-
tion and demolition waste at different ratios to reinforce the
strength of the final product [8]. The plastics can also be used
Application of Plastics’ Waste
Factory floors
Manufacture of hangers, pegs, coat hangers and insulation materials
Manufacture of crates and bins. Used as aggregates in asphalt mixtures
Making rain jackets, carpet fibers, soft packaging and wrapping items. They are used as
fibers in cement-based composites.
Making soap bottles, bins and crates. Components for chairs and tables
Making of wrappers, cling films and nursery bags for growing seedlings. Used in making
blocks and bricks.
Manufacture of cling film wrappers
Packaging and wrapping items.
Manufacture of shampoos bottles, bins and crates.
2
J. Nyika and M. Dinka Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 2
Plastic wastes used in making bricks, blocks and tiles, their percentage composition and the role they serve.

Plastic Waste Added Materials Role of the Plastic Waste Plastic Content (%) Reference
PET Foundry sand Aggregate 20–40% [16]
Recycled glass 20–40% [16]
Cement and clayey sand 0–7% [17]
PET and HDPE Clay Additives 0–20% [18]
LDPE Sand Aggregate – [19]
PP Fly ash and river sand 20–30% [20]
PP and PET Bitumen and quarry dust 65–80% [21]
PS and polycarbonate (PC) Regular cement, ash and sand 0–10% [22]
Nylon, PE and PET Stone crush, river sand and red soil – [23]
PE Fly ash 40–45% [24]
HDPE and PE Sand Waste plastic to sand ratio (1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6) [25]
LDPE, HDPE and PET Stone dirt – [26]
HDPE Sand 30–80% [27]
PET bottles – Substitute – [28]
PET Sand Alternate – [29]
HDPE and PET Earth clay Additive – [18]

exclusively to make various building materials. In this context, the
plastic wastes serve as aggregates, additives, binders, modifiers or
sand and cement alternatives or substitutes [8]. Using a number of
analyses such as the thermal conductivity, tensile, durability, bulk
density and soundness tests among others, the quality of the pro-
duct is compared with the ordinary products that do not have plas-
tic waste contents. A general observation is that addition of plastics
in the construction of bricks, tiles and blocks results to higher com-
pressive strength and reduced thermal conductivity, which makes
them suitable building and construction materials [11]. Bricks pro-
duced using plastic wastes were found to be durable and strong
making it a suitable method to channel such wastes rather than
disposal [1]. Table 2 summarizes some of the plastic wastes used
in making bricks, blocks and tiles, materials they are used along
with and the role they serve.
3.2.2. Use of plastic wastes for road construction material
In road construction, different types of plastic wastes are used
to make concrete and serve as total or partial substitutes of aggre-
gate. They are also used in making fillers, asphalt and modified
bitumen [1,11]. This use of plastic wastes is more common in sub-
base and base construction of pavements where such wastes
improve their bearing capacity, stiffness and shear [8]. These plas-
tic wastes, the role they serve in road construction and the per-
centages in the mixtures are shown in Table 3. Although the
plastic wastes produce acceptable performance during road con-
structions in their resilient modulus, stiffness and bearing capacity,
their physical characteristics such as smooth surface lowers this
capacity compared to conventional road construction materials
[1]. The plastic wastes have improved road surface quality and
enhanced the service life cycle in addition to improving the volu-
metric and mechanical characteristics of the resultant mixtures
during road construction [30].
3.2.3. Plastic wastes in making cementitious composites
As aggregates and binders, plastic wastes are components of
cementitious composites when mixed with other waste materials
[1]. The materials include rice husk ash, silica fume, recycled con-
crete and fly ash. Mechanically recycled plastics mixed with these
materials have high stability and hardness making them suitable
raw materials of cementitious composites. The end products
include bricks, blocks, tiles and road construction materials such
as fillers and bitumen. In using plastic wastes as fillers and aggre-
gates, the chemical composition of such wastes is of no significance
since hydration processes are not altered. Examples of plastics
used in making cementitious composites include resins, PLA, PVC,
PS, PET, HDPE, PP and LDPE where they serve two roles [43]. They
can replace natural aggregates or reinforce concrete through their
fibers. The methodology of making the cementitious composites is
common and involves replacing natural fine and coarse aggregates
with many plastic layers of equivalent volume and weight, a proce-
dure known as direct volume replacement [44]. The advantage in
using plastic wastes as cementitious composites is in reduced
demand to mine natural aggregates and reduction of deadweight
due to the lightweight of such wastes [36]. However, in such com-
posites, plastic wastes are impurities that tend to weaken the
strength of concrete [45]. Awoyera and Adesina [1] discuss the
effects of using plastic wastes as cementitious composites in
details. Some of the aspects evaluated are the changes in slump,
air content, permeability, durability, mechanical and compressive

Table 3
Plastic wastes used in road construction and the role they serve.

Plastic Waste Role of the Plastic Waste Plastic Content (%) Reference
PET Replacement of sand 1–10% [31]
Fine aggregate 0–50% [32]
HDPE Aggregate 0–10% [33]
Shredded plastic bags 0–5% [34]
PP Coarse aggregate 0–2% [35]
Fine plastic waste Partial substitute for aggregate 0–12.5% [36]
Recycled plastic aggregate Substitute 25, 50, 77 and 100% [37]
LDPE Partial substitute to sand 0–50% [38]
Thermoset plastic waste Modifier – [39]
Electronic plastic waste Aggregate 0–30% [40]
PE Binder 5–11% [8]
PET, HDPE, LDPE Component of asphalt – [41]
HDPE Component of subbase and base – [42]

3
J. Nyika and M. Dinka
Table 4
Plastics used in making of cementitious composites and their replacement ratio.
Plastic Waste Used Material Made
PET and PS Concrete
PET Mortar
LDPE Lightweight concrete
PET and PC Mortar
HDPE and PET Concrete
PVC Mortar
Plastic waste mixture Concrete
PP Lightweight concrete
HDPE Plastic cement
LDPE Concrete
strength following the use of such wastes. Table 4 show some stud-
ies where plastics are used to make cementitious composites and
the replacement ratio of the additives.
3.2.4. Other uses of plastic waste in building and construction
Plastic wastes have been used as substitutes for wood, in mak-
ing door panels, insulation materials and in walling for various
building and construction applications. Recycled commingled plas-
tics can be sawn, cut and nailed just as wood are durable in various
wood like applications such as fencing, making benches, boat docks
and in railroad tying [56,57]. Plastic waste powder or pellets can be
combined with wood flour or cellulose fiber to make thermo-
formable wood-plastic matrix used in making eco-friendly door
panels [58]. The studies are rare and the impact of the waste plas-
tics in the wood composites is not well understood [59]. Plastic
wastes such as expanded PS can be incorporated in construction
processes to make greener insulation materials [41]. The procedure
involves the processes shown in Fig. 1 where plastic waste is
sorted, cleaned and undergoes physical and thermo-chemical pro-
cessing to produce the insulation material [60]. Other materials
such as waste PVC and sawdust can be added onto PS to make
the insulation materials. Using such wastes reduces the cost of
such insulation materials in addition to protecting the environ-
ment by reducing their manufacture [19]. However, the use of such
plastic wastes for insulation is limited due to its low density and
high combustible and flammable characteristics. By heating, mold-
ing and pressing recycled plastics to form blocks, such waste can
replace conventional wooden and bricked walls with plastics walls
used in partitioning houses [61]. The procedure to make the wall
partitions is as discussed in the making of bricks and cementitious
composites in previous sections of this review. In soil reinforce-
ment, plastic wastes have been used to make geogrids and geocells
among other geosynthetics with significant strength and at low
costs [62]. PET bottles for instance, have been used as a drainage
medium for geotextile filters [63].
4. Durability and costs of plastic wastes for building and
construction materials
The use of plastic wastes in the building and construction sector
has been hailed owing to the ability of the materials to replace nat-
ural ones, reduce manufacture and ultimately protect the environ-
ment from pollution [1,7,48-53]. Advantages affiliated with plastic
wastes such as lightweight, waterproof, high strength and ease in
molding make it a suitable and durable material for building and
construction materials [6,8,11]. However, adding plastic wastes
while making various building and construction products is affili-
ated with some property changes compared to conventional mate-
rials [10]. Using PET to make asphalt was associated with increased
fracture resistance compared to ordinary asphalt [64]. The
mechanical properties of base and subbase [65] and mortar [66]
improved on addition of plastics wastes hence improved durabil-
ity. Plastics also improve durability aspects of building and con-
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Type and Quantity of Replacement Ratio Reference
Sand 10–20% by volume [46]
Fine aggregates 30–70% by volume [47]
Fine aggregates 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 % by volume [48]
Fine aggregates 3, 10, 20 and 50 % by volume [49]
Fine aggregates 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 % by volume [50]
Sand, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% [51]
Fine aggregate 10% by weight [52]
Sand 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 % by weight [53]
Sand 15–80 % by volume [54]
Fine aggregates 0.4–1 % total weight [55]
struction materials such as tensile strength [67], bonding
capacity [68] and capillary rise resistance [53] compared to natural
materials. In some studies, the plastics are impurities that reduce
the thermal conductivity [53] and compressive strength [68] of
resultant composites resulting to reduced durability and low-
quality products. Therefore, the findings on plastic wastes in build-
ing and construction materials with regard to durability present
mixed results. The life cycle assessment of plastic wastes compared
to conventional building materials shows that the former has
advantages of cost effectiveness. This suggestion could be as a
result of reduced transportation, energy, landfill disposal and man-
ufacture of new materials costs that make plastic waste recycling
economical compared to use of ordinary material [1,10]. The
involved processes in recycling the wastes should be evaluated
for a cost-benefit analysis compared to processing or ordinary
building and construction materials as Lamba et al. [8] suggested.
Such life cycle costing could reduce costs affiliated with collection
and sorting of plastic wastes that make the recycling process
expensive [10].
5. Future prospects on plastic waste use in building and
construction
Evidently, this mini-review shows that the applications of plas-
tic wastes in the construction and building sectors are many and
their advantages to contributing to a green economy too. Use of
plastic wastes will lower the cost of building materials, reduce
costs affiliated to its management, reduce energy costs if used for
insulation, valorize the materials that are deemed to be wastes
and reduce costs affiliated to mining and transporting conventional
building materials [1]. Apart from the financial affiliated benefits,
the use of plastics in the construction and building sector will
reduce pollution and emission of greenhouse gases during mining,
transporting and manufacture of conventional building materials
[11]. Such advances have been hailed to be part of green engineer-
ing by Jassim [73] whose aim is to reduce negative environmental
impacts while maximizing societal and economic benefits through
enhanced eco-efficiency. Although the use of plastic wastes for
construction and building materials has numerous benefits, its
large-scale application is limited due to a number of challenges.
The harvesting and sorting processes prior to recycling are tedious
especially if the waste has varying plastic composition and is from
different waste streams. Plastic waste application is not suitable
for applications with modulus of elasticity and high toughness par-
ticularly if it is of low density. Plastic wastes have poor bonding
due to their low surface energy especially when used to make com-
posites and as such, resultant products have weak mechanical
properties. To this end, it is imperative to for future studies to con-
duct research and understand both the short and long-term perfor-
mance of recycled plastics and increase their application in the
building and construction sector [30]. Lamba et al. [8] agreed on
the need to explore the merits and demerits of using plastic waste
for commercial production of building and construction materials
4
J. Nyika and M. Dinka
using qualitative and quantitative approaches for a cost-benefit
analysis of such advances. Recycling some plastic wastes to con-
struction and building materials requires advanced technology,
which is expensive [10]. Conducting research on innovative
approaches to curtail costly technologies and enhance the large-
scale uptake of recycling plastics due to its eco-friendly benefit
should be imperative. Currently, there are no regulations to sup-
port plastic waste use in building and construction applications
despite many studies reporting on potential benefits of such appli-
cations [1]. Such standards should be formulated and put forward
to enhance and legalize the use of recycled plastics for such pur-
poses even at commercial levels in the near future. Future research
should also focus on a carbon life-cycle assessment to validate the
sustainability aspects of recycling plastics in the building and con-
struction sector and at the same time, optimize proportions of
plastics used while devising methods to safely manage resultant
contaminants produced in the process [7].
6. Conclusion
Plastic materials have a variety of uses in contemporary society
and therefore, production of plastic wastes is unavoidable. How-
ever, the generation and management of the polymers’ waste must
be balanced with aspects of improved environmental sustainability
with the foreknowledge of the negative effects of such wastes in
polluting land and water resources. From this mini-review, it was
established that the use of recycled plastics for building and con-
struction applications is a viable solution to greening by prolong-
ing their lifecycle and improving their value in using them as
substitutes or composites for conventional building materials. By
using plastic wastes as aggregates, fibers and binders, their appli-
cations can span from making bricks, blocks, tiles, asphalt, bitu-
men, door panels, insulation materials to concrete among other
building and construction materials. The advantages of these appli-
cations are in reducing the use of natural building and construction
materials, reducing waste amounts diverted to landfills and lower-
ing environmental pollution associated with plastic waste disposal.
The plastic wastes are preferred for their ease in availability, low
cost of processing and durability based on the processing applied
during recycling. Although the advances in using polymer waste
for building and construction materials have been taken up based
on the evaluated empirical studies, a number of challenges make
large-scale applications impossible. The challenges include limited
financial and technological capacity to recycle the wastes and dif-
ficulties in collection and sorting of the plastic wastes. To alleviate
the challenges, this review recommended for more investment in
research and technology to make recycling plastics predictable,
large-scale and cost effective. Through advanced research, harvest-
ing plastics of varied composition can be automated. Additionally,
enactment of laws and regulations to safeguard and support plastic
waste use for building and construction applications was recom-
mended for enhanced green engineering in the study.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Joan Nyika: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing – origi-
nal draft. Megersa Dinka: Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
5
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the University of Johannesburg for
the research facilitation to enable completion of this manuscript.
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