The production of waste by the paper and cellulose industry has been growing continuously, generating storage costs and increasing environmental impact. The aim of this paper is to verify the viability of incorporating the grits waste, produced by that industry, in the manufacture of pressed soil-cement blocks that key together as a new building material. The highest quantity of waste that could be used was verified, complying with the normative requirements. In order to do that, the physical and mechanical characteristics of the soil with different content of grits were determined and blocks with different soil-grit proportions were produced. After curing, different tests were carried out, including compressive strength and water absorption tests. Regarding the physical characteristics, the conclusion was made that all the soil-grits ratios meet the normative requirements. As for compressive strength and water absorption, the results showed that the percentages of soil-grits that had enough plasticity for manufacturing blocks meet the normative requirements. The weight proportion of 37.5-62.5 soil-grits can be defined as the ratio with highest waste content and minimum plasticity required to make the blocks. Therefore, the use of grits in the production of soil-cement blocks emerges as a viable technology, which may have a positive environmental impact.
Grits; Pressed socket blocks; Soil-cement; Housing of social interest
