“EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON EFFECT OF WASTE PLASTIC ON BITUMINOUS MIX PROPERTIES”

Abstract

The amount of plastic waste disposal is increasing day- by- day and it’s a serious problem causing environmental pollution as it is non-biodegradable. This plastic waste like Polyethylene, Polypropylene and Polystyrene are mainly used for packing. On the other side, the road traffic is increasing day- by- day. The load bearing capacities of the road are to be increased. The use of Plastic Coated Aggregate for asphalt pavement helps for the reuse of plastics waste and for the improvement of road strength and durability of the pavement. In this paper an attempt is made to use the waste plastic like low density polyethylene (milk pockets), to coat the aggregate, in bituminous mix and the properties such as density, stability, flow, air voids are investigated. Also the optimum bituminous mix, using plastic coated aggregate, is compared with ordinary bituminous mix. Since the softening point of these plastics varies between 1100C-1400C and they do not produce any toxic gases while heating, but the softened plastic forms a thin film like structure over aggregates, when it is sprayed on hot aggregate which is heated at 1600C.   Plastic coated aggregate bituminous mix showed improved binding property and stability value .This method is eco-friendly and economical too.