A laboratory study on use of waste polyethylene in a bituminous concrete mix

Abstract

Bituminous Concrete (BC) is mostly used in surface courses of important flexible pavement construction projects such as highways, expressways, airports, parking lots etc. in India. Now-a-days, the steady increment in high traffic intensity in terms of commercial vehicles, and the significant variations in daily and seasonal temperature put engineers in a demanding situation to think of some alternatives for the improvisation of the pavement characteristics and quality by applying necessary modification processes which shall satisfy the strength, economy and environmental aspects. In India, there is an excessive use of polyethylene in day to day packaging activities. These materials after their use become a waste, which are not biodegradable. The need of the hour is to use the waste polyethylene for some beneficial purposes. This paper presents a laboratory investigation on behavior of bituminous concrete mixes made with waste polyethylene obtained from polyethylene based packets used packaging of powdered milk of a reputed brand used widely throughout Odisha province of India. Various percentages of waste polyethylene are used in a specified procedure for preparation of mixes with a selected aggregate grading as given in the Indian specifications. It is observed that the waste polyethylene helps in considerable improvements in the engineering properties of the bituminous concrete mixes, thus makes the waste material used as viable.