Effect of Waste Plastic Chips on the Strength and Swelling Pressure of Silt

Abstract

Laboratory tests were conducted to study the effect of waste plastic chips derived from used PET bottles on the strength and swelling potential of silt. The content of plastic waste was varied from 0, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 % by dry weight of silt. The size of waste plastic chips was 15 mm x 5 mm in the study. The results of this study reveal that there is significant improvement in the strength silt and considerable reduction in swell pressure with the inclusion of small quantity of waste plastic chips. Mitigation of expansive soils using waste plastic chips can be a good solution to reduce the swell potential of silt on which buildings and roads are going to be constructed