In recent years, the recycling of construction and demolition waste (CDW) has emerged as a sustainable solution to alleviate the burden on the environment. Recent studies indicate that CDW exhibit comparable mechanical and geotechnical properties to natural materials, suggesting their potential as suitable substitutes. Researchers have evaluated the performance of CDW for specific applications. However, the aspects of deformation behavior, and the influence of plastic on their performance have not been investigated so far. This study aims to investigate the mechanical characteristics of CDW in comparison to natural materials, as well as the influence of PET on their behavior. The CDW samples consist of recycled concrete, crushed brick, and PET. Large-scale triaxial compression tests were conducted to evaluate their strength and deformation characteristics. The strength of CDW ranges from 23 to 130 MPa, with a consistent shear strength of around 48 degrees due to similar grain size distributions. Comparative analysis with natural materials reveals that when brick and PET contents in CDW do not exceed 30% and 2% respectively, the strength is reduced by about 30%. These findings suggest that CDW can be effectively used in geotechnical applications if specific compositional limits are maintained.

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