Utilisation of used White Paper for Papercrete (Mechanical and Economic Characteristics)

Abstract

Papercrete is a construction material created by combining wastepaper with cement and additional substances. It serves as a replacement for traditional concrete and provides advantages like as waste reduction and the mitigation of construction's environmental impact. It serves as a sustainable and eco-friendly substitute for conventional concrete. The objective of this study is to quantify the compressive and flexural strength of papercrete, assess the manufacturing cost of papercrete, and identify the optimal paper proportion in the concrete mix based on both mechanical and economic factors. An experimental study was conducted to examine the mechanical and economic properties of papercrete with different paper proportions. White wastepaper has been incorporated into the concrete mixture. The ratio of cement to sand remained steady at 1:6. This mix design incorporates six different ratios of wastepaper to cement, ranging from 0% to 20% in increments of 4%. The sample manufacture took place at Pusat Inovasi Material Vulkanis Merapi UII, while the laboratory testing was conducted at Laboratorium Bahan Konstruksi Teknik UII. A survey was done to obtain production cost data from multiple vendors located near Kaliurang Street. The compressive and flexural strengths of papercrete are generally reduced when white wastepaper is used in papercrete ingredient. The strength decreases with increasing wastepaper content. The cost of wastepaper papercrete is higher than that of normal concrete (0% wastepaper). The cost of papercrete made using white wastepaper increases with its composition. The results shows that there is not a optimum blend of papercrete made with white waste paper in terms of strength and production costs.