Date of Publication :19th October 2023

Abstract: In most cities of the country Ethiopia, wasted plastics and glasses are seen being dumped in the road side and other public places. These wasted plastics and glasses require proper recycling and reusing to be applied on different applications. The existing waste plastic and glass recycling process is practiced only for few applications. Most of them are applied in construction works, pyrolysis of fuel oil and manufacturing of various clothing products. But, recycling of a wasted thermoplastics by reinforcing them with a silica sand contented wasted glasses to make a commonly used brittle products (such as plastic pipes, water bottles, detergent bottles and feeding plates is not practiced yet. Therefore, this research project is aimed to apply the concept of mechanical composite materials for these wasted thermoplastic/flint glass recycling processes. The main purpose of this new attempt is to recycle a wasted thermoplastic matrix by reinforcing it with a wasted flint glass powder including optimum additives to make commonly used brittle products. i.e, products that were previously made from HDPE (High Density Poly Ethylene) and from PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) plastics. Based on the sampling and particle size preparation standard of composite materials, samples of each wasted raw material are prepared. Also, the required mechanical properties such as; hardness, tensile strength, tear strength and physical properties such as; water absorption test, density, and heat resistance capability are measured. Finally, the sample material within optimum properties such as an average tensile strength of 22. 345 MPa, average tear strength of 18.424 MPa, average density of 1.182 g/cm3 and average specific gravity1.3815 g/cm3, maximum heat resisting capability of 195oC, increasing in hardness value and better surface abrasion resistance capability are selected to be converted in to the supposed polymer composite products.

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