Waste metalized film food packaging as low cost and eco-friendly fibrous materials in the production of sustainable and green concrete composites

Abstract

Among the potential solutions to a cleaner environment is to decrease the consumption of non-biodegradable materials and to reduce wastes. The generation and disposal of waste plastics cause severe impacts on the environment. The utilization of solid waste in the sustainable constructions has concerned much attention due to the lower cost of wastes along with saving a necessary place of landfills. The current paper investigates the feasibility of utilizing waste metalized plastic (WMP) fibers used for food packaging and palm oil fuel ash (POFA) in concrete in terms of mechanical and transport properties. Six fiber dosages of 0–1.25% were used for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) mixtures. In addition, the same dosages of fibers were used in mixes with 20% POFA. The results show that WMP fibers, together with POFA, reduced the workability of concretes. It has also been found that by adding WMP fibers to the concrete mixtures, the compressive strength decreased for both OPC and POFA mixes at an early age. Though at the longer curing time, say 91 days, the mixes contain POFA attained compressive strength higher than those of OPC mixes. The mixture of WMP fibers and POFA subsequently enhanced the tensile and flexural strengths, thereby increasing the ductility as well as the higher post-failure compressive strength of concrete. Besides, water absorption, sorptivity, and chloride penetration depth were reduced for concrete mixes incorporating WMP fibers up to 0.75% and 20% POFA. The study revealed that the WMP fibers are potential to be used in sustainable concrete by developing transport and mechanical properties.