Development of Novel Reprocessed Composite Materials from Municipal Solid Waste – a Review

ABSTRACT

Innovations in the field of science and technology transferred to engineering applications led to the rapid pace of urbanisation across the globe. The impact of urbanisation and change in lifestyle of the society is producing thumping municipal solid wastes of 62 million tonnes per year in our ecosystem and its concomitant environmental issues, which need to be addressed critically. Processing of the waste collected can be conducted only on 34.14% of the collected wastes remaining are dumped openly. This paper critically reviews different techniques to convert municipal waste to useful products with specific emphasis on municipalities of India because of its diversified terrain and culture. It is observed that 0.44 kg/capita/day, per capita waste, is generated in metro cities of India. The management and processing of these wastes are analysed. Reprocessing of non-renewable wastes for structural applications from this municipal waste into novel composites is discussed here. Cost and energy-efficient composite materials can be fabricated using biodegradable waste materials, detailed fabrication methods and mechanisms are discussed in this review. Carbonised biodegradable waste is used as reinforcement with an aluminium matrix, exposing the opportunities to use it in composite applications. The challenges and research scopes are briefly discussed in this paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Municipal wastes
• Plastics
• E-wastes
• Plant waste
• Composite materials
• Waste reprocessing

Acknowledgements

The authors kindly thank TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, and Mechanical Engineering department for their support and continued motivation for the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.