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An overview on the properties of eco-friendly concrete paving blocks incorporating selected waste materials as aggregate

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 29009–29036 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Paving block is a widely used pavement material due to its long service life, fast and easy production and easily replaced for maintenance purpose. The huge production volume of paving blocks consumes large amount of natural aggregates such as sand and granite. Therefore, there is a necessity to review the utilization of alternative materials as the aggregate replacement to cut down both the consumption of natural resources and disposal of various waste. This paper thus analyses published works and provides a summary of knowledge on the effect of utilizing selected waste materials such as soda-lime glass, cathode ray tube (CRT) glass, recycled concrete waste, marble waste, crumb rubber (CR) waste and waste foundry sand (WFS) as aggregate replacement in concrete paving blocks fabrication. The influence of each waste material on the properties of paving block is discussed and highlighted in this paper. The adherence of the waste material paving block to the standard requirements is also presented to provide a clear direction on the utilization of these materials for practical application. Soda-lime glass, CRT glass, pre-treated RCA and calcined WFS have the potential to be utilized in high quantities (30–100%), normal RCA and marble waste can be incorporated in moderate amount (30%) while CR waste and WFS is limited to low amount (6–10%). In overall, the usage of waste materials as aggregate replacement has good potential for producing eco-friendly concrete paving block towards the sustainable development of construction material.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by University of Malaya under the grant GPF048B-2020 “Upcycling glass waste into eco-friendly paving block with enhanced mechanical, durability and reflective properties”.

Funding

GPF048B-2020.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Jerome Song Yeo, Suhana Koting, Chiu Chuen Onn & Kim Hung Mo

  2. Centre for Transportation Research, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Suhana Koting, Chiu Chuen Onn & Kim Hung Mo

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  1. Jerome Song Yeo
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  2. Suhana Koting
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  3. Chiu Chuen Onn
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  4. Kim Hung Mo
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Contributions

J.S. Y—data curation; formal analysis; writing—original draft. S. K—funding acquisition; resources; supervision; writing—review and editing. C.C. O—supervision; writing—review and editing. K.H. M—funding acquisition; supervision; writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Kim Hung Mo.

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Yeo, J.S., Koting, S., Onn, C.C. et al. An overview on the properties of eco-friendly concrete paving blocks incorporating selected waste materials as aggregate. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 29009–29036 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13836-3

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Keywords

  • Concrete paving blocks
  • Eco-friendly
  • Waste materials
  • Sustainability
  • Waste recycling
  • Pavers