Plastic Waste Being Used as a Building Material

The world produces around 360 million tonnes of plastic each year, and most of this goes unrecycled. However, this plastic waste could be highly beneficial for many industries and as a building material.

Plastics are perfect materials that can be used for a variety of applications; this is because they have many properties, including strength, durability, flexibility, are lightweight, and are waterproof. Plastic can also be manufactured into many different forms, including panels, pipes, sheets, cables, and coverings.

How and why is plastic waste used as a building material?

Plastic can be considered the ideal building material due to its many properties. It has been used as a building material for over 100 years now, but why is it so perfect?

• Plastic is lightweight and durable, so it can be transported easily without risks and won’t need to be replaced for many years because of how durable it is.
• Plastic is corrosion resistant, and it can last for many years in many different settings including most weather conditions.
• Plastic can be easily bent or moulded to fit any desired shape, so is perfect as a building material.
• Plastic is waterproof so it can withstand any weather conditions and can be used as a solution where water is common like showers.

Types of Plastic Commonly Used as Building Materials

Acrylic – Acrylic is known for its optical clarity, durability, and scratch resistance. This material is also lightweight but strong and easy to maintain. When heated, acrylic becomes malleable and can be moulded and formed into any shape.

Composites – Composites are made of two or more constituent materials that improve each other’s characteristics when combined. Some characteristics of Composites are strength, fire resistance, lightweight, corrosion resistance, and design flexibility.

Polycarbonate – Polycarbonates can be used to create sustainable plastic building supplies as they can be melted down and reused multiple times. Polycarbonates have high impact resistance and strength. Polycarbonate is also a thermoplastic, meaning it becomes soft when heated and hard when cooled and doesn’t lose any chemical properties during these processes.

Polypropylene – Polypropylene is the most widely used plastic material in the world. Some characteristics include toughness, chemical resistance, fatigue resistance, and heat resistance.

Polyvinyl Chloride – Polyvinyl Chloride, or PVC, is a commonly used plastic building material due to it being inexpensive and durable. Other characteristics include lightweight, strength, and is great electrical insulation.

Rayda uses recycled windows when creating our products which come directly from the construction industry and help to tackle waste from this area.

 

If you have any questions about what was talked about in this blog, or have any other plastic enquiries, please contact us today and a member of our team will be happy to help.