**2. Materials and methods**

### **2.1 Materials**

The raw material used in this work consists mainly of waste plastics (PET) used as a binder and cocoa hull powder.

The waste plastic samples were taken from the Center region of Yaoundé, Cameroon. Plastic waste was collected in the Mendong area of Yaoundé. **Table 1** shows us the physical and mechanical characteristics of plastics (PET).

#### **2.2 Methods**

#### *2.2.1 Procedure for obtaining cocoa shell powder*

After podding, the cockles were cut up and collected in a polythene bag transported to the laboratory, and then dried in a Heraeus brand oven at 45° C until a constant mass is obtained. The dried slices were crushed using a mechanical grinder and sieved with a 1-mm sieve. The powders obtained were packaged in plastic bags and stored at room temperature (25 ± 2°C) until use.


**Table 1.**

*Physical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics of PETs.*
