TY - JOUR
T1 - Recycling waste plastics in roads
T2 - A life-cycle assessment study using primary data
AU - Oliveira dos Santos, Joao Miguel
AU - Pham, A.
AU - Stasinopoulos, P.
AU - Giustozzi, F.
PY - 2021/1/10
Y1 - 2021/1/10
N2 - The present study investigates – from an environmental perspective – the processes that lead to the conversion of waste plastics into recycled plastic pellets to be used either as an additive (wet method) or as a replacement of natural aggregate (dry method) in the production of asphalt mixes. Data from recycling facilities in Victoria, Australia, were collected and used as the basis for a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) study. Analyses were conducted by considering several replacement ratios of virgin material by its recycled counterpart in the so-called wet and dry method. A case study considering the production of recycled-plastic asphalt to be applied in the construction of a typical surface layer of a road in Victoria was evaluated. In general, the results show that recycling plastics as a polymer for bitumen modification and as a synthetic aggregate replacement in asphalt mixes has the potential to be environmentally advantageous compared to their virgin counterpart (i.e. virgin polymers and natural quarry aggregates).
AB - The present study investigates – from an environmental perspective – the processes that lead to the conversion of waste plastics into recycled plastic pellets to be used either as an additive (wet method) or as a replacement of natural aggregate (dry method) in the production of asphalt mixes. Data from recycling facilities in Victoria, Australia, were collected and used as the basis for a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) study. Analyses were conducted by considering several replacement ratios of virgin material by its recycled counterpart in the so-called wet and dry method. A case study considering the production of recycled-plastic asphalt to be applied in the construction of a typical surface layer of a road in Victoria was evaluated. In general, the results show that recycling plastics as a polymer for bitumen modification and as a synthetic aggregate replacement in asphalt mixes has the potential to be environmentally advantageous compared to their virgin counterpart (i.e. virgin polymers and natural quarry aggregates).
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141842
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141842
M3 - Article
VL - 751
JO - Science of the total environment
JF - Science of the total environment
SN - 0048-9697
M1 - 141842
ER -