Abstract
The management of waste plastic bottles is one of the major environmental challenges in the world. Plastic bottles are composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is non-biodegradable, resulting in environmental problems. Various studies have been carried out on the use of waste PET bottles in the form of custom-made strips as a stabilizer. However, no significant research has been carried out on the use of waste PET bottle shreds already available in the market. These shreds do not require any special technology or arrangement for bulk production. In this study, the shear strength of low plastic silty clay was improved using locally available PET shreds, and their prospective application in the backfill soil was investigated. Standard Proctor tests and direct shear tests were conducted on soil stabilized with three different sizes of plastic shreds (2 mm, 6 mm, and 10 mm) in four different percentages (1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%). Findings revealed that adding PET shreds in 1% content improves the shear strength characteristics. However, the shear strength parameters decrease with further increase in PET shred content. Therefore, PET shreds in 1% content can be added in backfill soil to improve its shear strength. Pakistan needs to construct 0.77 million housing units annually to keep up with its population growth. The statistics of seven major cities of Pakistan show that the PET waste management issue of Pakistan can be resolved by using PET shreds as a backfill additive in only 32% of the new houses required to be constructed.
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Conceptualization; Fawad Sheikh and Badee Alshameri, data curation; Fawad Sheikh and Badee Alshameri, formal analysis; Fawad Sheikh, Badee Alshameri, and Jawad Hassan, investigation; Fawad Sheikh, methodology; Fawad Sheikh, Badee Alshameri, project administration; Badee Alshameri, resources; Fawad Sheikh and Jawad Hassan, supervision; Badee Alshameri, Zain Maqsood, and Abbas Haider, validation; Fawad Sheikh, Badee Alshameri, Zain Maqsood, and Abbas Haider, visualization; Fawad Sheikh, Badee Alshameri, and Jawad Hassan, roles/writing—original draft; Fawad Sheikh, writing—review and editing, Badee Alshameri.
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Sheikh, F., Alshameri, B., Maqsood, Z. et al. PET waste management in Pakistan through use of PET shreds as additive in backfill soil. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1239 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11832-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11832-3