Abstract:
Plastic solid waste (PSW) presents challenges and opportunities to societies regardless of
their sustainability awareness and technological advances. During the 1990s, a number of
technologies emerged to utilize recycled plastics in products designed to replace dimensional
wood lumber. Since that time, recycled plastic umber (RPL) products have proven to be effective
alternatives for many applications, offering high durability and requiring little maintenance.
Plastic lumber products are resilient, weather-resistant, and impervious to rot, mildew, and
termites. They do not require painting or staining.
The first applications of plastic lumber products were in non-structural applications such
as picnic tables and benches. As the industry has matured through the years, innovative research
and development work by the plastic lumber industry and universities has fostered the
development of superior performing products which in turn has begun to establish new and
demanding structural applications for these products. Much of the work has involved the
application of composites technology to the reuse of post-consumer and post-industrial materials
in plastic lumber products. This evolution, from non-structural applications to structural
application is achieved by reinforcing plastic lumber with glass fibres, steel and iron rods etc. In
the present study we used LDPE recycled plastic lumber with and without reinforcement to
compare its mechanical properties with wood and concrete as fencing posts and also plastic
coating is given to bamboo to prevent it from termite and rodent attack.
