Contamination by plastic waste is becoming one of the largest world problems. The use of this material as an additive or filler for construction materials is becoming widely used to reduce the global contamination. In order to help out with this crisis, the Centre for Regenerative Design and Collaboration (CRDC) in partnership with PEDREGAL©, a construction materials company and builder from Costa Rica developed a patented and unique solution for the plastic waste crisis called RESIN8. It consists of an extruded mix of 80% recycled plastic (from various origins) and 20% mineral materials (mostly lime and wooden ash). This innovative material has been successfully used in the production of concrete masonry blocks and pavers. A question has been raised regarding the potential release of micro-plastics during the service life of RESIN8© modified CMUs and pavers and about their recyclability at the end of their service life. Therefore, a circular economy analysis was performed to assess the potential recycling of these products after their service life. Also, a full-scale accelerated pavement testing (APT) was performed to assess the micro-plastic release potential of RESIN8 modified pavers after a very abrasive wheel loading process. This parameter was found as low as 0.094%.

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How to cite this paper

How to cite this paper: Luis G. Loria-Salazar, German Gomez-Sandoval. (2021). RESIN8^©: A Micro-Plastic Assessment and Product Circularity When Used in CMU's and Concrete Pavers. Engineering Advances, 1(1), 1-8.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ea.2021.06.001

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RESIN8©: A Micro-Plastic Assessment and Product Circularity When Used in CMU’s and Concrete Pavers

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