Making pavers from polyethylene terephthalate waste and sand reinforced with cotton waste.

Abstract

Plastics, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles) are rapidly growing segment of the solid waste in Kampala city and Uganda as a whole. Disposal of waste. materials including waste plastic bags and cotton Wastes has become a serious problem. In order to overcome this issue; they should be reused in an effective way. Pavement blocks are perfect materials on the pathways and streets for simple laying and finishing. The PET waste was mixed with sand at a ratio of and cotton waste was added as a reinforcement was added bits of 0%, 0.5%, 1 0/1.5% and 2% of the weight of the mixture. The pavers were produced by Compression molding and compressive strength, flexural strength and water absorption properties were tested. A testometcic materials testing machine. was used to test compressive strength and flexural strength. An analytical balance was used to measure the weights of the pavers and water absorption was calculated. The effect of cotton waste addition on the physical and mechanical properties bf the pavers was analysed using ANOVA software. The paver containing 2% cotton showed the highest compressive strength (54891 N/mm2) and it also showed the highest flexural strength (8.330 N/mm2) compared to the sample without cotton. waste (0%) which showed compressive strength (3.178898 N/mm 2) and flexural strength of 0.584 N/mm2. Data analysis using ANOVA showed a significant effect of increasing cotton waste on compressive and flexural strength but showed less effect on water absorption.