Recycling Hits the Roads

Highway departments once shunned using parts of old roads to make new ones -- that was back when few cared about reducing carbon footprints or the cost of a barrel of crude, asphalt's most expensive essential ingredient. Lately, more of them are coming around to the practice, especially since rising oil prices have also pushed asphalt costs to near record heights.

Asphalt prices in August eclipsed $600 per ton in many parts of the country, a whopping 44 percent more than just three years ago. So it's no surprise then that more companies involved in road building and maintenance for the public and private sectors are turning to recycled roads for the material to make new ones.

Last year, road contractors re-used and reclaimed more than 73 million metric tons of asphalt and used it to care for the nation's roads and bridges, saving millions in construction costs. 

Asphalt supplier Idaho Sand & Gravel has been recognized by the National Asphalt Pavement Association for its use of sustainable materials, like the company's new Eco-Mix, a warm-mix technology that develops asphalt using lower temperatures. That reduces energy consumption and emissions, increases the use of recycled asphalt pavement and improves efficiency in field compaction. The National Center for Asphalt Technology also touts using warm-mix asphalt in the recycled asphalt pavement process to reduce material costs and use less fuel. 

Each year, Massachusetts-based P.J. Keating Company uses more than 140,000 tons of recycled asphalt product (RAP) in the production of its hot mix asphalt that is supplied to public and private projects. The asphalt contractor is one of dozens that also use old roof shingles that are recycled into asphalt. Made of the same basic materials used in hot mix asphalt, the company says roofing shingles in the mix can improve performance through better dust reduction and resistance to rutting and cracking.

The Federal Highway Administration promotes the use of recycled highway materials in pavement construction in an effort to "preserve the natural environment, reduce waste, and provide a cost effective material for constructing highways."

The use of recycled asphalt can also reduce expenses and boost profits for those in the road building industry.