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PAPER BRICK

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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 10, 09-Special Issue, 2018

Low Cost Paper Brick For Financially

Marginalized Section Of Urban Poor
SamiurRehman. S
Associate Professor School of Architecture, KL deemed to be university, Andhra Pradesh, India.
samiurrehman@kluniversity.in

Abstract-In this age of sustainability, urbanization and urban rich-poor division, it has been inevitable to
investigate and find the alternative methods and affordable options for dwelling materials for the financially
marginalized section of population in an urban environment. Among the widely used materials in building
dwelling for the poor, brick is one of the major components used for construction and it has a significant impact
on the construction costs of urban dwelling.In this aspect, a study has been conducted and the alternatives were
worked out with abundantly available materials in urban pockets such as Paper granules, Portland cement, and
PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate ) bottles.The study concludes that the construction cost of urban poor dwelling
can be reduced drastically with the usage of cost effective alternative for conventional brick,which makes up the
major part of the construction components.

Keywords:Cost effective paper brick, PET bottles, sustainable building materials, paper as building
material, shelters for urban poor, low cost housing.

1. Introduction
As per Open Government Data (OGD) for slums, brick constitutes 53% of all the predominant materials used
for construction of walls in Andhra Pradesh[1],making it the prime commodity in building of dwellings for the
poor in cities and urban areas.

H-3B : SLUM CENSUS HOUSES BY PREDOMINANT MATERIAL OF WALL , FOR THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Material of Wall
Total/ Total number
Area Name Rural/ of census Grass/ Stone not Stone G.I./Metal
Plastic/ Mud/ Unburnt Any other
Urban houses Thatch/ Wood packed packed / Burnt brick Concrete
Polythene brick material
Bamboo with with Asbestos
1 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
STATE - ANDHRA PRADESH Total 2,639,032 60,757 10,632 216,775 10,606 95,774 720,959 14,181 1,405,541 88,341 15,466

PERCENTAGE 2.30 0.40 8.21 0.40 3.63 27.32 0.54 53.26 3.35 0.59

Table 1 Slum Census Houses by Predominant Material of Wall for the State of Andhra Pradesh

Some of the most abundantly available materials as a waste in urban areas are Paper and PET bottles. When
used for building of dwellings, these materials can drastically reduce the cost and as well as save the
environment from urban pollution. Hence, while taking an advantage of abundantly available paper and PET
Bottles in urban cities, these can be used as a potential building material for cost effective construction with
simple techniques and modification. With this orientation, an approach has been conducted to tackle the issues
and challenges related to the use of paper and plastic bottles as a material used for wall construction. Slum
Census Houses by Predominant Material of Wall for the State of Andhra Pradesh are shown in table 1.

Taking a regular brick, which cost at Rs: 5.00 per unit, cost of brick material required for a regular brick wall of
3000x3000mm is around Rs: 2250/-and for the four walls it costs up to Rs: 9000/-.Alternatively, paper brick
costs a little less than Rs: 2.00 per unit reducing the material costs up to Rs: 3600/- with the difference of Rs:
5400/-.(About60% of cost required for a regular brick material).

2. Urban Poverty In India

According to 2001 Census, the total urban population was around 286 million or 28% of the total population.
Moreover, 80.8 million or 25.7% of India’s urban population was estimated to be below poverty line(BPL).In
ISSN 1943-023X
Received: 5 Mar 2018/Accepted: 10 Apr 2018
691
 Low Cost Paper Brick For Financially Marginalized Section Of Urban Poor

2004-05, as per Uniform Recall Period (URP) method, 68.2 million or 21.7% of India’s urban population was
estimated to be BPL in 2004-05. [3]

Most of these lives have extremely limited resources to meet their needs for their survival. Shelter is one of the
basic needs, especially in the areas of urban poor.An examination and a study has been conducted to come up
with the alternative building materials for urban poor.The materials were expected to be easily available and
cost effective to help the environmental sustainability. Moreover, the material must be accessible to meet the
standards and the needs of building construction, structural stability and environmental safety.Number and
Percentage of Urban Population below Poverty Line shown in table 2.

State No. of Persons (Lakhs) % of urban Population

Andrapradesh
61.40 28.0
Bihar
32.42 34.6
Chattisghar
19.47 41.2
Karnataka
53.83 32.6
Madya Pradesh
74.05 42.1
Maharashtra
146.25 32.2
Orissa
26.74 44.3
Rajastan
47.51 32.9
Uttar Pradesh
117.63 30.6
Uttarakhand
8.85 36.5

Table 2 Number & Percentage of Urban Population below Poverty Line (Based on URP Consumption)
2004-05: Select States

3. Environmental Sustainability
Approximately, the global production of paper is up to 407 million metric tons in 2014 [4], where,47% is from
the Asian countries. About 45% of the paper gets wasted and ends up in the trash.Additionally, about 50% of the
waste that companies produce consists of paper.Every year paper accounts for 25% of landfill waste and 33% of
municipal waste.

The present recovery and utilization of waste paper by the paper mills in India is about 3.0 million tons
annually.This translates towards a recovery of 27% of the total paper and paperboard consumed, which is too
little when compared to the recovery rates in developed countries like Germany (73 %), Sweden (69 %), Japan
(60 %),Western Europe (56 %), USA (49 %) and Italy (45 %). [5].

Apart from causing deforestation, paper affects the environment by the means of pollution. Paper is the third
biggest cause of air pollution in the industrial world. Paper production involves the use of chlorine-based
bleaches, Dyes, Varnishes. These toxic materials are hard to degrade i.e., these could not be broken down by the
bacteria. This results in contamination of both water and soil. Recycling one ton of paper can save up to 17 trees
and about 26,500 liters of water.[6]. Hence, it is strongly advocated towards the reuse of waste paper in a safe,
environment friendly and cost-effective manner as a building material for the urban poor.

4. Procedure for making Paper Brick

This section describe about the procedure of making Paper brick with the help of waste paper, Portland cement,
and PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate ) bottles.The detail procedure of step by step making of paper brick is
explained below.

1. Waste paper is shredded into small pieces of papers.

2. Shredded paper (waste paper) is soaked in water and cut into smaller chunks.
3. These chunks are converted into granules and are mixed with Portland cement slurry to 8:2 proportions
of paper cement ratio respectively.
4. The prepared mix is poured in a mould made of plywood of size
. Block diagram of developed brick is shown in figure 1.
Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 10, 09-Special Issue, 2018

100 200

100

Figure1. Block diagram of developed brick

5. The mixture mould is left to cure for 24 hours.

Hardened brick is removed from mould and made to undergo various standard tests needed. Developed brick is
shown in figure 2

Figure2.Samples of developed Paper Bricks

5. Performance Analysis
Developed brick strength is calculated by absorption test and compression test and fire resistance test with
compressor, water tank and Electricaloven.

a. Absorption test [7]

Water absorption test was conducted on the paper brick to find the water absorption of the material. Dry weight
of the Paper Brick was noted down as 1.601 kg (W1), Paper brick was left in water for 24 hours for water
absorption.

After 24 hours paper brick was taken out and excess water was drained and weighed and recorded as
2.156kg.(W2)

Water Absorption is calculated by below equation

693
 Low Cost Paper Brick For Financially Marginalized Section Of Urban Poor

Result: Water Absorption was recorded as 34.6%. Conducted absorption test sample diagrams shown in figures
3,4 and 5.

Figure3.Absorption test (Weight of dry brick W1) Figure4.Absorption test ( brick immersed in
water)

Figure5. Absorption test (Weight of brick post immersion W2)

b. Compression test [8]

Compressive strength test on bricks was carried out to determine the load carrying capacity under compression.
This test was carried out with the help of compression testing machine. It was observed that the sample was able
to take load of 500 kg of compressive load.Conducted Compression test sample diagrams shown in figure 6.
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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 10, 09-Special Issue, 2018

Figure6. Compression test for developed brick

c. Fire resistant Test [9]

Sample was made to undergo fire resistance test in an electrical oven at a temperature of C . After 4 hours
of heating it was found that physical state of brick was good and sound without any deformation and failure to
fire test.

6. Conclusion
Brick is one of the major components used for construction and it has a significant impact on the construction
costs of dwellings of urban poor. Intention of this work is to come up with the cost effective alternative to
conventional building material. Thus work developed a paper brick with the help of waste paper, Portland
cement, and PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate ) bottles. Experimental results shows that there is a very vast
scope for developing cost effective alternative building materials.

References
[1]. https://data.gov.in
[2]. http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Paper-Waste-Facts
[3]. Urbanization and Poverty in India-A Statistical Compendium 2010- Government of India, Ministry of
Housing and Urban poverty Alleviation. National Buildings Organization.
[4]. Paper Industry - Statistics & Facts (https://www.statista.com/topics/1701/paper-industry/
[5]. The Hindu, “Want that waste paper.” PreetiMehra, July 25, 2016
[6]. www.mesltd.ca/6-scary-paper-waste-facts
[7]. Kelham, S., 1988. A water absorption test for concrete. Magazine of Concrete Research, 40(143), pp.106-
110.
[8]. Ryshkewitch, E., 1953. Compression strength of porous sintered alumina and zirconia: 9th communication
to ceramography. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 36(2), pp.65-68.
[9]. Cheng, T.W. and Chiu, J.P., 2003. Fire-resistant geopolymer produced by granulated blast furnace slag.
Minerals Engineering, 16(3), pp.205-210.

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