Sustainability

Advantage 52

Future recyclability of asphalt reduces the CO2 emissions considerably

In the asphalt industry a lot has been done to reduce CO2 emissions. With the re-use of reclaimed asphalt from former asphalt roads in virgin asphalt mixes the emissions are reduced further more. As an example the emissions of a “25% re-used” asphalt mixture is almost 20% less than those of “all virgin materials” asphalt mixture. If you additionally consider the future recyclability of this asphalt material you even get further reductions of the CO2 emissions up to almost 60%.


More information on Reuse - https://youtu.be/AEc7vQR-oaw

Circular economy has become one of the most significant pillars of our industry and society, but do you know what is the most powerful thing we can reuse and recycle?

EAPA Technical Director Breixo Gomez tells you in this video.

From:
Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), Report PRP574, The asphalt Pavement Embodied Carbon Tool (aSPECT), Further Guidance on the calculation of the whole life cycle greenhouse gas emissions generated by asphalt, Pages 21-24.

Remark:

  • 15.6 kgCO2e/t for full virgin compared with 12.9 kgCO2e/t for 25% re-used is a reduction of almost 20%.
  • 15.6 kgCO2e/t for full virgin compared with 6.4 kgCO2e/t for 25% re-used and future recycled asphalt is a reduction of almost 60%