A one-mile segment of pavement in California was created with 150,000 recycled plastic bottles. Credit: CaltransThe National Asphalt Pavement Association is furthering the research into using recycled plastic in asphalt pavement.
NAPA and the Asphalt Institute created a joint task force, which has recently released two documents on the topic that are available free on NAPA’s website. The documents were created by the National Center for Asphalt Technology:
- Recycled Plastics in Asphalt Part A: State of the Knowledge – “includes summaries of plastic recycling, available research and research gaps that need to be bridged.”
- Recycled Plastics in Asphalt Part B: Literature Review – “more than 110 articles and reports that evaluate plastics in asphalt.”
“The challenge we are facing is that plastic in asphalt roads sounds so simple, but in reality, it is rather complex – we have to consider worker health and safety as well as quality and performance,” said NAPA President and CEO Audrey Copeland.
Copeland notes that NAPA has been involved in championing research into the viability of plastics in asphalt by the National Academies of Science and Engineering and the Transportation Research Board National Cooperative Highway Research Program.
NAPA also discussed plastics on its latest podcast episode of “Pave It Black” and created a shareable video to help inform political leaders, transportation officials and the general public on what the asphalt industry is doing to evaluate the potential for using plastic in asphalt.
“NAPA and its members are committed to building and maintaining our country’s infrastructure with the utmost goal of recycling, sustainability and concern for our environment and resources while, at the same time, providing the travelling public with the smoothest, quietest, safest and most perpetual pavement surface available,” says NAPA Chairman Jay Winford Jr., who is also president of Prairie Contractors in Opelousas, Louisiana.
Check out NAPA’s video on recycled plastic in asphalt below:
