Proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers
Waste and Resource Management
163
February 2010 Issue WR1
Pages 37–45
doi: 10.1680/warm.2010.163.1.37
Paper 800029
Received 14/10/2008
Accepted 08/07/2009
Tung-Chai Ling
Keywords: materials technology/ Postdoctoral Fellow, Hong Kong
recycling & reuse of materials/ Polytechnic University, Kowloon,
strength and testing of materials Hong Kong
Using recycled waste tyres in concrete paving blocks
T. C. Ling MEng, PhD, H. M. Nor MSc, PhD, PGradDip
There is general agreement that waste tyres should be
better managed in order to preserve valuable resources
and prevent environmental damage as a result of
improper disposal. This paper describes the use of crumb
rubber in concrete paving blocks. Existing block material
is characterised as a composite with high compressive
strength but with low toughness; the addition of rubber
improves toughness while meeting minimum strength
requirements. A total of 4300 rubberised concrete paving
blocks were produced in a commercial plant, and 348
were tested for compression and abrasion performance,
sound absorption, voids and skid resistance. The test
results revealed that rubber substitution should not
exceed 20% by sand volume in order to avoid excessive
reductions in compressive strength. Further investigations
showed that sound absorption and toughness were
improved as the rubber content in the mix increased. The
specimens showed a significant capability for absorbing
dynamic loading and resisting crack propagation, which is
beneficial for pavements that require good impact
resistance properties.
1. INTRODUCTION
Industrial by-products or solid wastes that would otherwise be
discarded as harmful environmental pollutants are being widely
used as cement or aggregate replacements in concrete, and ways
of using waste materials in civil engineering applications are
increasingly being sought. One example is the use of industry
by-products and solid wastes in highway construction.
In some Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand,
waste management has become an acute problem with rapid
increases in urbanisation and economic development leading to
larger quantities of waste materials requiring proper management.
Generally, solid wastes are disposed of in landfills, but waste
minimisation, reuse, material recycling and energy recovery are
being encouraged.
In order to promote such initiatives, a number of research studies
have investigated the use of industrial by-products and solid
wastes in the production of concrete paving block (CPBs). The
construction industry in Hong Kong generates huge amounts of
solid waste such as crushed clay brick, crushed ceramic tile,
crushed waste glass and wood chips. Numerous studies on the
application of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes as fine
and coarse aggregate materials (e.g. Chan and Poon, 2006; Lam
Waste and Resource Management 163 Issue WR1 Using recycled wasteto:tyres in concrete paving blocks
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Hasanan Md. Nor Siong-Kang Lim
Professor, Universiti Teknologi Assistant Professor, Universiti
Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman, Selangor,
Malaysia
and S. K. Lim MEng, PhD
et al., 2007; Poon and Chan, 2006, 2007; Poon and Cheung, 2007;
Poon et al., 2002) have indicated the possibility of utilising huge
amounts of C&D wastes in concrete. The use of recycled
aggregates in CPB production has been successfully implemented
and is gaining wider acceptance. In addition to the environmental
benefits of reducing the amount of solid waste sent to landfill,
utilisation of such wastes also preserves the natural materials that
would otherwise have been used in concrete production.
In recent years, the amount of coal ash produced by Japanese
power plants has reached about 27 000 t/day (Karasawa et al.,
2003). Fly ash can be used as a substitute for fine aggregate in the
production of CPB, but only if the fly ash replacement ratio is
25%. Nutalaya (1994) and Phinyocheep (1998) cite a large amount
of literature on the applications of fly ash in CPB production. It is
estimated that about 45 000 t of fly ash lignite is consumed every
day at the 2025 MW Mae-Moh power plant in Thailand, and
Nutalaya (1994) studied the possibility of using the fly ash in the
production of low-cost CPBs. Apart from the environmental
benefits, such a scheme would provide employment for the low-
income communities living in the vicinity of the power plant.
2. RESEARCH BACKGROUND
One of the most common global environmental issues is the
management of scrap tyres, which are not readily biodegradable
(Figure 1). Every year, approximately 800 million new tyres are
produced in every region of the world (Serumagard and
Blumenthal, 1999). Although the lifetimes of some tyres have been
prolonged, ultimately they will all be discarded as waste. The
majority of tyres end up in already congested landfills, becoming
mosquito breeding places, or are burnt. The melting tyres produce
large quantities of oil, which contributes to the contamination of
soil and ground water.
Recent statistics in Malaysia indicate that the number of
registered vehicles has doubled over the past ten years (Ling
et al., 2009b). With 13 million vehicles in Malaysia at present, a
very large number of scrap tyres are produced every year. The
Department of the Environment has banned the open burning
and burying of waste tyres in order to reduce air pollution and
land instability. Even though several agencies and municipal
councils are involved, they often have no clear direction in
relation to waste management. Only a few companies utilise
shredding to produce crumb rubber and rubber powder (the cost
of crumb rubber is about RM 1000/t (RM 3.5 ¼ 1 US$)). There is
therefore a clear need to seek and identify economic and
Ling et al. 37