Engineering Characteristics of Soils Reinforced with Shredded Plastic Waste

Abstract

There is a continuous attempt at seeking different, economical and environmental-friendly means of improving the strength of soils. This work therefore studied the effects of shredded plastic waste (SPW) on the strength of selected soils. To achieve the aim of the study, lateritic soil samples were collected from two identified active borrow pits in Ile-Ife. Following standard procedures, the following tests were conducted on the soils in their natural state: natural moisture content, grain size analysis, specific gravity, Atterberg limits, compaction, and California bearing ratio (CBR). Subsequently, the soils were treated with SPW in 4 %, 8 % and 12 % proportion by weight of soil respectively. They were then subjected to compaction and CBR tests. The natural soils were found to have the following characteristics for sample A and sample B respectively: specific gravity (2.70 and 2.51); liquid limit (40.40 % and 61.00 %); plastic limit (23.11 % and 36.67 %); plasticity index (17.29 % and 24.33 %); American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) classification (A-3 and A-2-7); maximum dry density (MDD) (1430 kg/m3 and 1510kg/m3); and optimum moisture content (OMC) (21.13 % and 48.0 %). Results further showed that the addition of SPW led to a slight improvement in the strength characteristics of the tested soils. The study concluded that SPW could be used to improve the strength of lateritic soils.