Valorisation of GRP Dust Waste in Fired Clay Bricks

In Europe, the total amount of Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) waste is increasing. In order to valorise GRP dust (GRPd) waste and to reduce the consumption of nonrenewable resources in building materials, GRPd has been already investigated in cementitious materials where it gives even an improvement in some performances of the final products. Valorisation of GRPd waste in the production of bricks can be considered as a further alternative. In this paper, GRPd waste was substituted to the clay volume at 5% and 10% for the manufacturing of fired clay bricks. All specimens were subjected to a firing temperature of 850°C for 6 hours, then tested and compared in terms of porosity, compressive and flexural strengths, density, and water absorption. Despite a decrease in compressive strength up to 46% with 10% of GRPd substitution and an increase of water absorption from 14% to 29% with 5% and 10% of GRPd substitution, respectively, an increase in terms of lightness (about 10%), maximum flexural strength (up to 31%), and deflections at the maximum load (up to 130%) has been registered by specimens with 10% of GRPd substitution.