Recycled diapers can replace concrete sand and mortar

2023-05-18 16:59:02

Concrete – Zaragoza City Council

MADRID, 18 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Up to eight percent of the sand in the concrete and mortar used to build a single-story house could be replaced by shredded used disposable diapers without significantly decreasing its resistance.

The authors of a study published in Scientific Reports suggest that disposable diaper waste could be used as a building material for low-cost housing in low- and middle-income countries.

Disposable diapers are typically made from wood pulp, cotton, viscose rayon, and plastics such as polyester, polyethylene, and polypropylene.. Most are disposed of in landfills or through incineration.

Researchers at the University of Kitakyushu, Japan, Siswanti Zuraida and colleagues prepared concrete and mortar samples by combining washed, dried, and crushed disposable diaper waste with cement, sand, gravel, and water. These samples were cured for 28 days.

The authors tested six samples containing different proportions of diaper waste. to measure how much pressure they could take without breaking. They then calculated the maximum proportion of sand that could be substituted for disposable nappies in a number of building materials that would be needed to build a 36-square-meter house that met Indonesian building standards.

The authors found that disposable diaper waste they could substitute up to ten percent of the sand needed for the concrete used to form columns and beams in a three-story house.

This proportion increased to 27% of the sand required for the concrete columns and beams of a single-story house. Up to 40% of the sand required for the mortar for partitions can be replaced by disposable diapers, compared to 9% of the sand in the mortar for floors and garden paving.

Altogether, up to eight percent of the sand in all the concrete and mortar building materials needed to build a single-story house with a floor area of ​​36 square meters can be replaced by disposable diaper waste, which is equivalent to 1.7 cubic meters of waste.

The authors note that a broader application of their findings would require the involvement of waste management and treatment stakeholders in the development of large-scale collection, sanitization and shredding processes for diaper waste. In addition, the construction regulations would have to be modified to allow the use of diaper waste as a construction material.