Using plastic waste as thermal insulation for the slab-on-grade floor and basement of a building

Experimental and theoretical studies were performed to investigate the possibility of substituting traditional insulation materials with a rigid manufactured polyethylene packing waste. This procedure is of economic interest and contributes to the protection of the environment, since the disposal of plastic waste consumes energy and results in emissions of pollutants to air, water and soil. The first part involved the measurement of the thermal characteristics of the plastic waste using a non-isothermal procedure, based on the transient state of temperature. Two methods were employed: the heat wire method and the ring sensor method. In the second part, a comparative study was carried out for different building configurations using the traditional insulation or the rigid manufactured polyethylene packing waste. The effect of the water table on a building with a rectangular slab-on-grade foundation or with a basement was studied. An analytic method and a commercial software, which uses the finite difference method in two and three dimensions, were used for the comparison. For all configurations, the quantitative values of the heat loss through the ground from the building floor demonstrate the effective performance of the rigid polyethylene packing waste insulation and substantiate the pertinence of its use.