Reusing waste plastic bottles as an alternative sustainable building material

Plastic bottles (PET) are examined both structurally and thermally to be utilized as building units, replacing traditional concrete blocks. Tests were conducted after filling the bottles with either dry sand, saturated sand, or air, bound by cement mortar to produce stable masonry walls of reduced thermal conductivity. The effect of the infill material on the bulk unit weight and the compressive strength of the plastic bottle masonry blocks showed slight effect of the used infill material on the strength. Although the gross strength of these plastic bottles is much less than the traditional blocks, 670kN/m2 compared to 3670kN/m2, but calculations showed that the blocks of air filled bottles still can be used as suitable construction units for partition walls or as bearing walls for one roof slab.Thermal wise, air filled bottles showed better thermal insulation than the tradition block construction, which could act as thermal insulation material.