Abstract

In the past decades, various environmental issues have been widely recognized in the world and one of these thriving problems is plastic pollution. This experimental study aimed to provide a solution to the thriving plastic pollution in Barangay Pampang, Angeles City, Pampanga by making the shredded low-density polyethylene plastic, the alternative component in cement mixture in creating concrete blocks. In this study, the researchers made four prototypes of concrete blocks which are 1 part plastic : 3 part cement, 6 part of sand, 1 part of plastic: 4 part of cement: 8 part of sand, 1 part of plastic: 5 part of cement: 10 parts of sand, and a concrete block with no added polyethylene plastic. The four prototypes which are four inches long and four inches wide underwent a compression strength test to measure the resistance of each concrete block to breaking under compression. The result from the compression strength test revealed that the ratio 1:5:10 has the highest compression strength followed by the ratios 1:4:8 and 1:3:6. Generally, the ratio of 1 part of plastic: 4 parts of cement: 8 parts of sand is the most appropriate in making polyethylene plastic as an alternative component in the cement mixture without losing the compression strength of the concrete blocks. With these given results, adding the shredded, low-density polyethylene plastic to the cement mixture at the most appropriate ratio increased the compression strength of the concrete block compared to the concrete block without the polyethylene plastic.