Recycling toward sustainable pavement development:End-of-life considerations in asphalt pavement

Abstract

As quality aggregate sources are depleted, there is a growing importance given to incorporating recycled co-products and waste materials (RCWMs) in new and rehabilitated pavements. An ideal goal would be using recycled materials to create long-lived, well-performing pavement and then being able to use those materials again at the end of their life to create new pavement, thereby effectively achieving a zerowaste highway construction stream. This would not only produce distinct cost advantages, but it would also significantly reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and eliminate the need for landfill disposal. Drawing from ISO standards and practices, this article reviews the recycling methods and definitions associated with the End-of-Life (EOL) phase and present various EOL considerations for asphalt pavements and the associated challenges to quantify EOL contribution in the pavement life cycle.