INNOVATIVE PLASTIC TILES

A Case Study Research

Presented to the College of Engineering and Architecture

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the ENGLISH 4E SUBJECT

IN THE COURSE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE.

RATIONALE:

Historically recycling in the plastic

industry was carried out within
manufacturing companies as part of
the standard production
process. In extrusion for instance,
often where material and
contamination constraints allowed,
in-house scrap would be re-
processed with virgin material, to
improve final material produc-
tion yields. Plastic waste both
commercial and post consumer
going
to landfill.
Therefore, it is only relatively late in
the development of the
plastic industry that focus and public
perception has shifted
towards the problems of plastic
waste. This has been driven by
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two factors; a growing concern
about the costs, both financial and
environmentally of land filling, and
the sheer amount of plastic
waste finding its way into that waste
stream.
This overview will provide a general
introduction to the issues
affecting plastics recycling materials
from end of life to disposal
and overview the main methods in
landfill avoidance associated
with plastic waste
Historically recycling in the plastic
industry was carried out within
manufacturing companies as part of
the standard production
process. In extrusion for instance,
often where material and
contamination constraints allowed,
in-house scrap would be re-
Page 3 of 21
processed with virgin material, to
improve final material produc-
tion yields. Plastic waste both
commercial and post consumer
going
to landfill.
Therefore, it is only relatively late in
the development of the
plastic industry that focus and public
perception has shifted
towards the problems of plastic
waste. This has been driven by
two factors; a growing concern
about the costs, both financial and
environmentally of land filling, and
the sheer amount of plastic
waste finding its way into that waste
stream.
This overview will provide a general
introduction to the issues
affecting plastics recycling materials
Page 4 of 21
from end of life to disposal
and overview the main methods in
landfill avoidance associated
with plastic waste
Historically recycling in the plastic
industry was carried out within
manufacturing companies as part of
the standard production
process. In extrusion for instance,
often where material and
contamination constraints allowed,
in-house scrap would be re-
processed with virgin material, to
improve final material produc-
tion yields. Plastic waste both
commercial and post consumer
going
to landfill.
Therefore, it is only relatively late in
the development of the
plastic industry that focus and public
Page 5 of 21
perception has shifted
towards the problems of plastic
waste. This has been driven by
two factors; a growing concern
about the costs, both financial and
environmentally of land filling, and
the sheer amount of plastic
waste finding its way into that waste
stream.
This overview will provide a general
introduction to the issues
affecting plastics recycling materials
from end of life to disposal
and overview the main methods in
landfill avoidance associated
with plastic waste
 Everything we use and consume becomes waste, including plastic items and plastic

bags we use every day.

 There is a need for environmental sound solutions as environmental considerations gain

ground legislation changes all around the world.

 One of the approaches to solution of the plastic waste problem is through recycling for

its numerous benefits justifying the aim of this study.

 Our objective in this study is to use plastic and glass material in a way that it will become

a substitute material or an additional material on the product.

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  We think about this product to make a new use for this waste plastic material and to help

the government and the environment, in this fight in managing our plastic waste.

Expected Output:

 This study will encourage more of the researchers and people to be more aware of our

surroundings and be open minded when it comes to possibilities (for example creating

innovative materials from waste) nothing is impossible when it comes to ideas.

 The product produced by plastic and glass recycling would help every individuals and

construction industry by giving them more fresh air to breath, cleaner environment, and

more manageable waste.

 The product will not just benefit the people but it will also benefit the society and the

animals; the society will be able to manage a welcoming and greener environment, and

it will give more greener homes for the anima and not give them death through the waste

that hooks up on their bodies.

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 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

I. Background of the study

The Philippines is known for its rich marine ecosystems but is also one of the major sources

of plastic trash in the world, contributing almost three million metric tons of plastic wastes and

500,000 metric tons of plastic waste leakage per year (Climate Change Commission of the

Philippines, 2019). Base from the research of Gardside (2019) In 2018, the global production of

plastics reached 359 million metric tons and from that, only 9% of all plastic waste ever

produced has been recycled. About 12% has been incinerated, while the rest — 79% — has

accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment unenvironment.org (2018).

Figure 1. ref: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution

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Figure 2 ref: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution

a. Goals, Objectives and Strategies

i. Goals

The goal is to lessen the number of plastic wastes to at least 20% by using

it as an innovative sustainable construction material. Not just to help the

environment but also to help the construction industry in producing another

material that would help sustain the demands in new materials with design.

ii. Objectives

 To provide another additional solution to reduce the land pollution

caused by plastic waste and introduce another innovative

material.

 To design a material that would surpass the characteristics of a

regular floor tiles with the consideration of the following:

o Properties of each of the ingredient needed

o Physical appearance of the product

o Life span of the product

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 o The compressive strength of the product

o The resistance of the product

o The weak and strength of the product

iii. Strategies

The strategy is to first analyze the properties of each of the material

component, then try and examine how each material interact with each other if

combined. If the ingredients don’t bond that much then another ingredient is to be

mix. But if the ingredients bond greatly and has a good compressive strength point

without any chemical bonding substance then the product is now good enough to be

taken to the market.

Moreover, since this product is not new in the market, the goal is to introduce

an improvise outcome that will use not only the common technique of plastic

reproduction but also to develop a new system that will also apply other non-

biodegradable trash such as glass. The product should surpass the characteristics of

a regular floor tile with more benefits to the user and the environment. These method

helps not only to minimize the plastic junks but will also decrease the glass-litter

materials which are also the contributors of the severe waste pollution.

b. Significance of the Study

The study focuses on the reduction of waste around the globe without

harming the eco system. Since, a survey of production increased exponentially,

from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Production is expected to

double by 2050 (Parker, 2019). The only solution for the reduction of waste is to

recycle them into another reusable material, which would be the innovative floor tile

material.

The product would be user and environmentally friendly, it will not give

another problem to the human rather it would make their life at ease from

maintenance, financial, and health. The product will also help the earth breath from

pollutions by reducing the source of it.

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 c. Conceptual Framework

The paradigm of the study explains the framework f the research and product process.

The input contains the technical data for the research, it shows the strategy needed to yield a

well planned and legitimate research about plastic and glass floor tile. It also shows the

materials and tools needed for the production of the expected product. The process then shows

the flow of the input on how it is generated and made to produce the expected outcome. Then in

the output it shows the final product of the process.

Paradigm

INPUTS PROCESS OUTPUTS

Data Gathering of the Analyzation and Research An innovative floor tile
raw material’s
property it their Proper Sorting of materials material.
advantages and
disadvantages. Mix all the raw materials in
2 separate way.
Raw Materials
 Plastic and
Glass Waste Extreme heat (appx.
Material 1400deg)
 Sand
 Water

Plastic Shredder
Conveyor
Heating Machine

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 Chapter 2 MATERIALS AND METHOD

II. METHODOLOGY

a. Data Gathering and Analysis

Waste plastics

By definition the plastics can be made to different shapes when they are heated.in

closest environment it exists in bags, food and drinking containers, and they are become waste

material. Accumulation of such wastes can result into hazardous effects to both human and

plant life. Therefore, need for proper disposal, and, if possible, use of these wastes in their

recycled forms, occurs. This can be done through process of plastic management. Waste

management in respect to plastic can be done by recycling. If they are not recycled then they

will become big pollutant to the environment as they not decompose easily and also not

allow the water to percolate in to the soil and they are also poisonous.

PROPERTIES OF PLASTIC MATERIALS

According from Suryakanta (2019), Civil.org website there are 10 properties of plastic.

1. STRENGTH

The plastics are sufficiently strong and can be used for load bearing structural members.

The strength of plastics can further be increased by reinforcing them with various fibrous

materials.

Plastic as structural material has not gained much popularity because of the following

resins.

 High cost of construction

 High temperature susceptibility

 Poor stiffness

 Being subjected to creep under constant load

2. WEATHER RESISTANCE

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 The plastics, prepared from phenolic resins, are only good in resisting weather effects.

Certain plastics are seriously affected by ultraviolet light.

3. FIRE RESISTANCE

Plastics, being organic in nature, are combustible. But the resistance to fire temperature

depends upon the plastic structure.

 Cellulose acetale plastics burn slowly.

 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics are non-inflammable.

 Phenol formaldehyde and urea formaldehyde plastics are used as fire proofing

materials.

4. DURABILITY

Plastics generally possess sufficient durability, provided they offer sufficient surface hardness.

Thermoplastic varieties are found to be attacked by termites and rodents.

5. DIMENSIONAL STABILITY

Plastics easily maintain its shape and do not go under plastic deformations.

6. CHEMICAL RESISTANCE

Plastics offer great resistance to moisture, chemicals and solvents. Many plastics are found to

possess excellent corrosion resistance. Plastics are used to convey chemicals.

7. THERMAL RESISTANCE

The plastics have low thermal conductivity, because they have virtually no free electrons and

therefore foamed or expanded varieties of plastics are used as thermal insulators.

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8. WORKING CONDITIONS

All operations like drilling, sawing, punching, clamping etc are carried out easily on plastics, just

like wood.

9. MOISTURE RESISTANCE

This property depends upon variety of plastics used, for example, cellulose plastics are

considerably affected by the presence of moisture, whereas polyvinyl chloride plastics offer high

resistance to moisture.

10. DUCTILITY

Plastics, generally, have low ductility and hence plastic structural members may fail without prior

warning.

11. MISCELLANEOUS PROPERTIES

In addition to above properties, plastics have following qualities.

 Plastics are available in variety of colors, both opaque and transparent.

 Plastics possess excellent insulating property, so used as electric insulators.

 Plastics are clean, light and shining, so they need not be given any finish such as

painting, polishing etc.

 Normally thermo-plastics have low melting point and cannot be used where

temperature or heat condition persists.

 They possess good optical and sound absorption qualities.

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 River sand

Sand is naturally occurring granular material which is composed of mineral

particles and finely divided material. The composition of sand varies depending on the local

rock conditions and sources, but the most constituent of sand in inland continental settings

and non-tropical coastal region is silica dioxide (SiO2) in the form of quartz. The second

commonly used sand is the calcium carbonate, for example aragonite, which has mostly been

created, over the past half billion years, by various forms of life, like coral and shellfish. Sand is

now used in all the construction process.

Frit Glass

It is a ceramic composition that has been fused, quenched, and granulated. Frits form an

important part of the batches used in compounding enamels and ceramic glazes; the purpose of

this pre-fusion is to render any soluble and/or toxic components insoluble by causing them to

combine with silica and other added oxides.

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 - fritted glass help reduce glare, cut cooling costs, it can also give the exterior a

distinctive look with patterns ranging from simple shapes and gradients to intricate

designs

b. Method

The study applies data gathering through literature review. This pertains to the actual

research conducted by the researchers that contains evidences to support the concept of the

proposed study.

Testing Procedure

To know the quality of plastic sand bricks and plastic sand paver blocks following tests

can be performed. In these tests some are performed in laboratory and the rest are on field.

 Compressive test

This is done to know the compressive strength of the bricks. This is also called

crushing strength of bricks. Generally five specimens of bricks are taken to

laboratory for testing and tested one by one.

 Water absorption test

In this the bricks first weighted in dry condition and they are immersed in water

for 24 hours. After that they are taken out from water and they are wipe out with cloth.

Then the difference between the dry and wet bricks percentage are calculated.

 Hardness test

In this test a scratch is made on brick surface with steel rod (any hard material

can be used) which was difficult to imply the bricks or blocks were hard. This shows the

brick possess high quality.

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Product making

The plastic trash is collected from various places and is sent to a dump yard. At

the damp yard, it is disposed of as best as possible, the plastics are collected and then

shredded into tiny pieces which is melted along with the sand while being mixed.

The blended product then go into a mixer where their hydrated until they are 6 percent of

water to 90 percent of water. The mixer runs for precisely 12 minutes. Any longer, it eventually

will heat the mixer and dry it out. The mixture is then, slightly dumped and quite lumpy.

The product is then transported to an area where it is ready to be formed into various

model of tiles. By the use of fully automated machinery to produce its (10.8) centimeter square

meter square tiles, a standard floor tile size. A moving tray first deposits a mixture into a mold.

The mold’s cavity is in the shape of six upside down tiles, appressed the sand, applying both

heat and pressure, this compacts the mixture into the cavity, solidifying the shape to produce

properly.

The formed tile will then go under the kiln firing which takes fourteen (14) hours. Any

sudden changes in temperature can produce thermal shock and crack the tiles so it starts out in

200-degree Celsius climbing gradually to 1075 degrees then descending slowly back to the

starting temperature. While cooling down, a hot mixture product of melted plastic and glass is

then poured and shaped unto the top of the tile. After being shaped and blended with the lower

layer the final product should go under cooling down the product and then testing.

Bottom Layer:

 Shredding Plastic waste

 Mixing with River Sand

Top Layer:

 Shredded Plastic waste (melted)

 Mixing with glass

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Chapter 3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

I. Data Analysis

The research methodology and design indicated overall process of the flow of the

research for the given study. The data sources and data collection methods were used.

The overall research strategies and framework are indicated in this research process

from problem formulation to problem validation including all the parameters. It has laid

some foundation and how research methodology is devised and framed for researchers.

This means, it helps researchers to consider it as one of the samples and models for the

research data collection and process from the beginning of the problem statement to the

research finding. Especially, this research flow helps new researchers to the research

environment and methodology in particular.

 Properties of the UR-tile

o Thermal Resistance

Both glass and plastics are good insulators but glass is not a good

conductor therefore the product would be the product would be high

thermal insulator and medium thermal conductor.

o Scratch Resistance

Plastic and glass are not high in scratch resistance but is still considered

fair resistance, therefore being able to stand the scratch, it is still

considered an advantage.

o Chemical Resistance

Glass is not resistant to all chemical form but is resistant to most acid, on

the other hand plastic is highly a chemical resistant product (which is one

of the best advantages of plastic) that makes it also corrosion resistance

or is non-reactive. The final product would be then medium when it terms

of chemical resistance due to the fair resistant of glass to chemical.

o Stain Resistance

Both plastic and glass are high in stain resistance therefore stain

resistance is on of the best advantages of the final product because it will

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 not cause any discoloration.

o Impact Resistance

Plastic is very high in impact resistance because of its durability but

combined with glass which has a poor impact resistance, the final

product’s resistance to impact will still be high because of the plastic

content but not as durable as plastic alone.

o Moisture Resistance

Base from the plastic’s non-reactive property, and the glass’s receptive to

moisture, the final product would have a medium resistance to moisture.

o Fading Resistance

Both of glass and plastic are high in fading resistance, therefore the final

product would be really high in fading resistance.

o Bending Resistance

The plastic has a high bending resistance but as for the glass which has

poor bending resistance, the final product would resist the bending fairly.

o High Hardness or Durability

Base from the impact resistance, the final product would be still has a

high durability but not as high as plastic alone.

o Lightweight

Plastic is very light weight, but with the glass combination, the final

product has gain weight but will not as heavy as glass alone or ceramic

alone due to the mixture of plastic in it.

o Longer Life Span

Plastic has a long life, it can live 1000 years because It does not

decompose similar to glass therefore using the two as a material would

be a great help in reducing the financial crisis in terms of home materials.

It would also reduce renovations and repairs.

o Eco-Friendly

It is eco friendly because it helps the environment be greener and helps

the wildlife breath freshly and move around easily without getting

entangled with waste.

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  Disadvantages of the Product:

o The negative side of recycling plastic is that it releases VOCs into the

atmosphere, they are harmful to nearby plant and animal life. VOCs (volatile

organic compounds) released from plastic recycling harm the environment, they

present health risks to the people who use the recycled plastic, Plastic resin is

manufactured from the petroleum and it can leech into the foods that are stored

in the recycled plastic containers (Soffar 2016).

o It also degrades it quality everytime it is recycled

Chapter 4 RECOMMENDATION

Therefore, the team decided to recommend a further study of the smoke

released by the recycling especially from the heating process of the materials. The heat

and smoke that comes from the kiln process may give a combustive element to the

environment , in order to counteract this threat, it is recommended to ensure that no

toxic gas will be release. To attain this, filter should be provided after insulating the heat

(that can later on be transformed into an energy), moreover, the plastic content collected

from filter materials can be use for re-manufacturing plastics. This requires further

research and experiment.

Likewise, a further study on how to re-recycle the recycled materials, because if not

studies further it will again still go back to where it would be, the dump site on land

polluting again the environment.

Chapter 5 REFERENCES

 Climate Change Commission. (2019). Protect the ocean by ending plastic pollution.

Retrieved from https://climate.gov.ph/news/109 on February 11, 2020.

 Roser, M. and Ritchie, H. (2018). Our World in Data. Plastic Pollution. Retrieved from

https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution on February 23, 2020.

 Suryakanta. (2015). CivilBlog.org. 10+ GENERAL PROPERTIES OF PLASTIC AS A

CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL. Retrieved from

https://civilblog.org/2015/07/09/10-general-properties-of-plastic-as-a-

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 construction-material/ on February 23, 2020.

 Parker, L. (2019). The world's plastic pollution crisis explained. National Geographic.

Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/plastic-

pollution/ on February 25, 2020.

 Soffar, H. (2016). Plastic recycling disadvantages and advantages. Online Science.

Retrieved from https://www.online-sciences.com/industries/plastic-recycling-advantages-

and-disadvantages/ on February 26, 2020.

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