The Most Commonly Recycled Material? Asphalt
![Asphalt Industry Usage Recycled Materials and WMA 2016 [IS 138(7e)]](images/IS138-2016-Cover-150px.jpg)
The latest NAPA/FHWA survey of asphalt producers' use of recycled materials and warm-mix asphalt finds that more than 79 million tons of recycled materials — mostly reclaimed asphalt pavement and recycled asphalt roofing shingles — were put to use in new asphalt pavements during 2016. The same survey found that more than 31 percent of all asphalt pavement mixture produced during the 2016 construction season was produced using energy-saving warm-mix asphalt technologies.
The survey, conducted by NAPA in partnership with FHWA for each construction season since 2009, found that nearly 117 million tons of WMA was produced in 2016. In 14 states, more than half of all asphalt pavement mixture was produced as WMA; in three of those states, more than 75 percent of asphalt pavement mixture was produced using WMA technologies.
The survey also found that more than 76.9 million tons of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and nearly 1.9 million tons of recycled asphalt roofing shingles (RAS) were used in new asphalt pavement mixes in the United States during in 2016. Reclaiming and reusing the asphalt cement in RAP and RAS saved more than $2.1 billion in 2016 compared to the use of virgin materials and saved nearly 50 million cubic yards of landfill space from reclaiming RAP alone.
A full copy of the survey, including appendixes with state-by-state data, can be downloaded from www.AsphaltPavement.org/recycling.
Silica Rule Support for Asphalt Industry
With enforcement of OSHA's new silica rule beginning in September 2017, companies engaged in roadway construction must be aware of the potential for exposure to silica associated with common roadway construction activities, mitigation strategies and technologies, and reporting, monitoring, and other regulatory obligations.
NAPA has developed a series of reports and guidance to aid in designating a competent person in line with the silica rule, developing written silica exposure control plans, and the Table 1 engineering controls compliance options for roadway milling operations. These and other resources are all available through NAPA's Silica Rule webpage. NAPA will continue to update the site with links to tools and resources as they are developed.
Two New Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Publications
Best Practices for RAP and RAS Management (Quality Improvement Publication 129) by Randy C. West, Ph.D., P.E., covers pavement milling, inventory management, processing, sampling, and testing of RAP and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS), as well as a discussion of production concerns.
High RAP Asphalt Pavements: Japan Practice — Lessons Learned (Information Series 139) by Randy C. West, Ph.D., P.E., and Audrey Copeland, Ph.D., P.E., reports out the findings of a 2014 industry scanning tour of Japan to study that country’s use of high levels of RAP in its pavements. Information about Japanese innovations for porous asphalt pavements are also included.
Both publications were produced under NAPA’s cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and are available as free, high-quality PDF electronic documents through the NAPA Online Store, http://store.asphaltpavement.org.