Stress-strain curve analysis for the mixture of expanded polystyrene and polypropylene plastic waste

Abstract

The environmental problem related to urban solid waste generation and management requires alternatives that enable communities to have appropriate collection, transport and disposal methods for urban solid waste. Likewise, it is necessary to develop alternative uses as many of the materials generated can be reused or recycled. Plastic waste is among the types of waste most generated by communities, making up approximately 11 % of waste in middle income countries, some of which possess high commercial value and is easy to recover and recycle, while others are more complicated due to their volume-to-weight ratio. This is the case of expanded polystyrene, which has a low commercial value and few reuse alternatives, making it an unattractive type of waste for the recycling chain, and as a result, while being 100 % recyclable, it still ends up in municipal landfills. In order to facilitate the use of this waste, this paper presents a stress-strain curve analysis for the mixture of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and polypropylene (PP), both recovered wastes, for the purpose of contributing to the physical-mechanical characterization of this mixture to develop future research projects to reincorporate this material in the recycling chain.