ABSTRACT
In Germany, plastic waste materials from households are collected separate from other garbage. An industrial process has been developed to recycle these plastics in order to get artificial light aggregatesfor mortars. Main point of the process is a combined heat and pressure treatment of crushed and washed plastic particles (hard plastics and foils) to form a compact plastic block which can be crushed and grinded to granulate gradings from 0,125 to 4 mm. Theoretical and experimental studies justify the use of these granulates as light aggregate and additive for numerous mortar and concrete products. In some ranges of application, improvements of technical properties of conventional mortars and plasters can be achieved.
