Rwanda researchers turn plastic waste into durable sisal-reinforced tiles

Representative Image of recycled plastic tiles combined with sisal fibers displayed in a laboratory setting (AI Generated Image) Plastic waste collected in Rwanda has been turned into experimental construction tiles that combine recycled thermoplastics with locally sourced sisal fibres. In a study published in Frontiers in Sustainability titled Manufacturing of plastic tiles based on reinforced sisal and recycled plastic wastes: a case of Rwanda, researchers at Rwanda Polytechnic-Ngoma College tested tiles made from recycled high-density polyethene, polyethene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene, combined with sand, marble chips, cement and sisal. The strongest formulation, containing 5% sisal by volume, reached a mean compressive strength of 41.66 megapascals (MPa), while three tested tile samples recorded an average water absorption of just 0.225% after 24 hours of immersion.Rwanda's plastic waste problem provided the starting pointThe researchers developed the tiles against a persistent waste-management problem. Rwanda introduced a plastic-bag ban in 2008 and prohibited single-use plastics in 2019, but the study says substantial quantities of rigid p...