J. Basic. Appl. Sci. Res., 5(1)35-44, 2015 © 2015, TextRoad Publication ISSN 2090-4304 Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research www.textroad.com Corresponding Author: Norlia Md Desa, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic of Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia, E-mail: liiya69@yahoo.com Utilization of Plastic Bottle Waste in Sand Bricks Siti Aishah Wahid, Sullyfaizura Mohd Rawi, Norlia Md Desa Department of Mechanical Engineering Polytechnic of Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia Received: October 14, 2014 Accepted: December 16, 2014 ABSTRACT Disposal of large quantity of plastic bottle has emerged as an important environmental challenge, and its recycling is facing a big problem due to non-degradable nature. Due to plastic does not decompose biologically, the amount of plastic waste in our surroundings is steadily increasing. The proposed sand bricks which is made up by adding plastic bottle waste in crush form in sand bricks may help to reuse the plastic bottle waste as one of the additives material of bricks, and to help the disposal problem of plastic waste. The properties of sand bricks which contain varying percentages of plastic were tested for compressive strength, water absorption and efflorescence. It shows that an appreciable improvement in the performance of bricks can be achieved by introducing crush type of plastic waste into sand bricks. In view of utilization of plastic waste material for developing sustainable construction material, the present paper reviews plastic waste materials in different compositions of 0% to 15% that were added to the raw material to develop plastic waste sand bricks. The compression strength of the bricks is reviewed and recommendations are suggested as the outcome of the study. It was found that the reduction in compressive strength, due to replacement of sand by waste plastic bottle, is minimal and can be enhanced by addition of super plasticizer. The water absorption and efflorescence however showed excellent performance. KEYWORDS: Plastic Waste, Compressive Strength, Water Absorption, Efflorescence, Environmental Issue. INTRODUCTION Plastic is a very common material that is now widely used by everybody in this world. Plastic has many advantages as it is compact and light in weight. Common plastic items that are used are bags, bottles, containers and food packages. The great problem with plastic is its disposal. Plastic is made of polymer chemicals and they are not bio degradable. This means that plastic will not decompose when it is buried. Though plastic is a very useful material that is flexible, robust and rigid they become waste after their use and they pollute the atmosphere. Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials. The increase in the popularity of using environmental friendly, low cost and lightweight construction materials in building industry has brought about the need to investigate how this can be achieved by benefiting to the environment as well as maintaining the material requirements affirmed in the standards. To protect the environment as well as to take advantage of plastic, recycling procedure is used. The use of waste plastic bottles for the production of bricks is an optimal method to solve the problem of storing waste materials and to optimize the cost for the production of building materials. In this study, plastic bottle waste in bottle factory will be used to incorporate with cement and sand to produce sand bricks. The bricks will then be tested to study the compressive strength, water absorption and efflorescence. In the recent past research, the replacement and addition have be done with the direct inclusion of polyethylene or plastic fibre, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in shredded form, chemically treated polyethylene fibre, PET in aggregate form by replacing natural coarse aggregate. Most of replacements have been done by volume calculation, and showed the decreased in compressive strength as the plastic fibre increased. In this study, recycled plastic bottle have been introduced in crush form as the fibre [5]. The replacement has been done by weight calculation instead of volume calculation. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The increase in the popularity of using environmental friendly, low cost and lightweight construction materials in building industry has brought about the need to investigate how this can be achieved by benefiting to the environment as well as maintaining the material requirements affirmed in the standards. Brick is one of the most accommodating masonry units as a building material due to its 35