Page 36 - eBook_Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing V1

Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing –
Volume 1

Keywords: Plastic Waste Valorisation, Recycled HDPE,
Sustainable Furniture Design.

INTRODUCTION

Plastic pollution is one of the foremost environmental concerns of
the 21st century, primarily due to the durability and non-
biodegradable nature of synthetic polymers like high-density
polyethylene (HDPE). The excessive accumulation of post-
consumer HDPE waste in landfills and oceans poses a significant
ecological burden. Recycling this waste into functional, load-
bearing products presents a viable solution within the framework
of the circular economy.

While recycled HDPE has been previously studied for various
non-structural applications, its suitability for structural
components—particularly in furniture subjected to repeated
mechanical loads—remains underexplored. Most existing works
have focused either on its mechanical characterisation in isolation
or on aesthetic reuse without rigorous structural validation.

This study addresses this gap by systematically evaluating the
mechanical performance of thermally compressed recycled HDPE
using standardised tensile testing, and subsequently validating its
structural feasibility through Finite Element Analysis (FEA). By
simulating real-world loading conditions on a furniture prototype,
the integration of experimental and computational approaches
offer a comprehensive understanding of the viability of recycled
HDPE in sustainable furniture design. This research aims to
bridge the gap between material recycling and structural
performance assurance in product engineering.

The increasing usage of plastics in our daily activities has
caused an unprecedented accumulation of plastic waste globally,
becoming one of the most pressing environmental issues of our
time (Wang, Liu & Zhang, 2018). This scenario is particularly
critical, given that the non-biodegradable nature of many plastics,

20