Utilization of E-Waste in Concrete

Abstract

E-waste or electronic waste is a term used for discarded electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working or outdated, and have basically touched the end of their useful life. The amount of e-waste materials that needs to be disposed off keeps increasing day by day which make e-waste a developing issue posing serious pollution problems to the mankind and the environment, not only in India but also globally. Reusing e-waste in concrete industry is considered as the most practicable application for solving the disposal of large amount of e-waste material since concrete is the most commonly used building material in construction industry. It is also shown that there is a strong possibility of e-waste being used as replacement of aggregate. Its use in concrete becomes more substantial and important in view of the fact that sources of natural aggregates are decreasing little by little, and it is surely important to explore the possible substitutes for natural aggregates. In this research coarse aggregate is partially replaced by electronic waste starting from 5% and adding 5% gradually until it reaches 25%. The compressive strength of all these mixes is also being checked. The test results showed that workability of the concrete decreases with increase in the percentage of e-waste added to the mixture. However, the addition of e-waste shows increase in compressive strength up to 15% replacement. It also showed that both sulfate attack and chloride attack does not affect the strength of e-waste concrete. The reuse of E-waste results in waste reduction and resources conservation.