Utilization of Garment Thermosetting Plastic Button Residual Waste

Garment industry has become the crucial component of the entire industrial sector in Bangladesh. It has an annual export value of approximately 38 billion U.S. dollars. Woven, knit and sweater garment items use buttons which are predominantly made of thermosetting plastic. The process of preparing those thermosetting plastic buttons always leaves residual plastic which is mostly discarded into environment as waste. Present study was aimed to determine promising routes for the utilization of that residual thermosetting plastic waste. The plastic waste was found to possess 6480 kcal/kg gross calorific value. It can therefore be considered to be used with solid fuel. X-ray fluorescence analysis revealed that the residual plastic waste contains 90 wt% carbon. The waste was subsequently processed into activated carbon which could successfully remove 90 wt% arsenic from contaminated water. The melted residual plastic waste was finally mixed with bituminous for the preparation of bituminous concrete. Marshall Stability test of the concrete explored that dosing the bituminous with residual thermosetting plastic waste tends to increase compressive strength of the concrete. It can therefore be concluded that the thermosetting plastic waste generated in garment industry has the potential to be utilized for better environmental and financial managements.