Soil Stabilisation Using Plastic Waste

Kamal Singh and Anupam Mittal

Abstract Stabilisation of a fine-grained soil using plastic waste is experimentally

investigation in this study. Samples are prepared by mixing with four different plastic
waste contents (0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5% of weight of dry soil). Variations in compaction
characteristics and Unconfined compressive strength are investigated as per Indian
standard experimental procedures. Percentage decrease/increase in the stated param-
eters is computed with respect to their untreated value. Study shows that plastic waste
additive increases maximum dry density, optimum moisture content, and unconfined
compressive strength to some extent. The plastic waste cut into strips form of size
5 mm × 3 mm

Keywords Soil stabilisation · Silt · Plastic waste · PET · Compaction · UCS

1 Introduction

Plastic bottles made of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) are un-decomposable and

destructible if it is melted it releases a compound gas which is very harmful to health
and environment. Increased use of plastic bottles in day-to-day consumer application
has the result in bottled water is fastest growing beverage industry in the world. From
consumer market research company Euromonitor, The Guardian reported that 20,000
plastic bottles are brought every second around the world. About 480 billion bottles
were purchased globally in 2016 but less than half get recycled. Arpitha et al. (2017)
studied the effects of plastic waste on soil with respect to the variations of California
Bearing Ratio test (CBR). Results showed that CBR values of soil increases with
increasing plastic waste content up to a specified percentage of plastic waste. In this
study, fine-grained soil sample is tested with different plastic waste contents and the
variations in Unconfined Compressive Strength and compaction characteristics of the
sample are investigated. The percentage increase of these parameters with different

K. Singh (B) · A. Mittal

Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra
136119, Haryana, India
e-mail: kamalkarwasra1507@gmail.com

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 91

A. K. Agnihotri et al. (eds.), Recycled Waste Materials, Lecture Notes
in Civil Engineering 32, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7017-5_10
92 K. Singh and A. Mittal

plastic waste contents is computed with respect to the untreated values. Comparison
of plastic waste admixture with some common admixtures like RHA, lime, cement,
lime-fly ash, plastic begs, etc., can be pursued as a future scope of this study. Effect of
variation of curing period (1, 3, 7, 14, 28 days) can also be investigated from lateral
standpoint. Based on previous study more than 2% of plastic waste will reduce the
strength of soil hence four samples with plastic waste contents (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5% of
weight of dry soil) are tested.

2 Methodology

2.1 Materials

2.1.1 Soil

Soil was collected locally from NIT Kurukshetra. Sample was obtained from 3 m
depth below the ground surface was tested for their geotechnical properties and
strength characteristics. The various tests conducted to obtained geotechnical param-
eters are specific gravity test, sieve analysis of soil, liquid limit, plastic limit, Standard
Proctor test, UCS test. Physical Properties of soil as shown in Table 1.

2.1.2 Plastic Waste

In this project plastic waste in the form of plastic strips is collected from
Yamunanagar, Haryana. Aspect ratio of plastic strip is 1. Physical properties of PET as
shown in Table 2.

Table 1 Properties of soil S. no. Properties of soil Test

result
1 IS classification (10% clay, 65% silt, ML
25% sand)
2 Specific gravity 2.556
3 Liquid limit (%) 24.58
4 Plastic limit (%) 16.456
5 Plasticity index 8.124
6 Maximum dry density (g/cm3 ) 1.779
7 Optimum moisture content (%) 12.60
Soil Stabilisation Using Plastic Waste 93

Table 2 Properties of plastic S. no. Behaviour parameters Values

waste
1 Chemical formula (C10 H8 O4 )n
2 Molar mass Variable
3 Density 1.38 g/cm3
4 Melting point >250 °C
5 Boiling point >350 °C
6 Solubility in water Insoluble

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Standard Proctor Test

It is a test in which mechanical energy is provided to reduce voids and increase

density. In this test dry density of soil calculated for different proportion of water
content and then a curve is plotted between water content and dry density which
gives MDD and OMC. Standard Proctor test is conducted on four different samples
with different replacement percentage of plastic waste from 0 to 1.5% as per IS 2720
(part 7): 1980

2.2.2 Unconfined Compressive Strength Test

To determine the unconfined compressive strength of fine-grained soil, remoulded

compacted specimen is prepared in a cylinder (38 mm diameter, 76 mm length) by
adding required water (OMC). Then wrap it tight in a polythene cover and place it in
a desiccator containing little water and place the desiccator in a constant temperature
room after 7 days curing unconfined compressive strength test is carried out and
reading was noted as per IS 2720 (part 10): 1973

3 Results and Discussions

3.1 Standard Proctor Test Results

Standard Proctor test is performed as per the guidelines of IS-2720 (part 7): 1980.
The compaction curves of untreated soil and plastic waste mixed soils are plotted in
Fig. 1. The increase in the MDD can be attributed to the replacement of soil particles
by the comparatively larger plastic waste particles. Increase/Decrease in MDD values
with the percentage of plastic waste are shown in Fig. 2.
94 K. Singh and A. Mittal

Fig. 1 Compaction curve 0% PW 0.5% PW

1.8

Dry Density (g/cc)

1.75
1.7
1.65
1.6
1.55
8 13 18 23
Moisture Content (%)

Fig. 2 Plastic waste versus 1.84 1.83

MDD
1.82
1.8
MDD (g/cc)

1.779 1.78
1.78
1.759
1.76
1.74
1.72
0 0.5 1 1.5
Plastic Waste(%)

3.2 Unconfined Compressive Strength Test Results

The curves obtained from unconfined compression test performed as per IS-2720:
part 10: IS-2720: part 10: 1991 on treated samples (mixed with 0.5, 1, and 1.5% plastic
waste) are compared with that of untreated sample in Fig. 3. Increase/decrease in
UCS values of treated soils with the percentage of plastic waste as shown in Fig. 4.
It can be seen that the untreated soil is having a low value of UCS, whereas after
addition of plastic waste content from 0.5 to 1%, a substantial increase in unconfined
compressive strength (nearly 2–13%) is observed. It is to be noted that the plastic
waste treated samples are cured for 7 days maintaining water content equal to the
optimum water content. With the addition of plastic to the sample of soil there is an
increase in the cohesion of soil which leads to increase in the unconfined compressive
strength of the soil. But further increase in the plastic content leads to decrease in
the cohesion and thereby decrease in the strength.
Soil Stabilisation Using Plastic Waste 95

Fig. 3 Result of unconfined 0% PW 0.5% PW

16
compression strength test

Unconfined Compressive Strength

(stress vs. strain curve) 14

12

10

(kg/cm2)
8

0
0 2 4 6 8
Strain (%)

Fig. 4 Graph for optimum 16

proportion of strips (strength 14.15
14 12.52 12.88
Unconfined Compressive

vs. plastic waste)

12
Strength(kg/cm2)

10
8 7.14
6
4
2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5
Plastic Waste(%)

4 Conclusions

This study is focused on the review of performance of plastic waste as a soil stabili-
sation material. The study suggest following conclusions.
1. Study reveals that the parameter that drastically improves with addition of plastic
waste is Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of soil. Addition of 0.5–1%
plastic waste increases the UCS by 3–13% compared to that of untreated soil.
2. Addition of plastic waste content shows marginal effect on Maximum Dry Den-
sity. Study shows that MDD of treated soils (with plastic waste content 0.5–1%)
increases by roughly 0.06–0.23% with respect to that of untreated soil.
3. Addition of plastic waste content (0.5–1.5%) increases the OMC by 3–13% with
respect to untreated soil .
96 K. Singh and A. Mittal

4. We can conclude from the results obtained after performing the test with plastic
bottles strips that 1% of the total weight of the soil is the optimum proportion
to be added to the soil for reinforcement but it decreases further percentage of
plastic bottles strips is added.

References

Abhishek P, Waghere G, Inamdar N, Gavali P, Dhore R, Shah S, Chinchwad P (2016) Experimental

review for utilisation of waste plastic bottles in soil improvement techniques Int J Eng Res
5(1):290–292
Arpitha GC, Dayanandha BV, Shruti N (2017) Soil stabilization by using plastic waste, 347–354
IS-2720: Part 7 (1980) Indian standard methods of test for soils: determination of water content–dry
density relation using light compaction. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
IS-2720: Part 10 (1991) Indian standard methods of test for soils: determination of unconfined
compressive strength. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
Mallikarjuna V, Bindu Mani T (2016) Soil stabilization using plastic waste 2(12):2319–2322
Rao KD, Pranav PRT, Anusha M (2011) Stabilization of expansive soil with rice husk ash, lime and
gypsum—an experimental study. Int J Eng Sci Technol 3(11):8076–8085