Recent applications of waste solid materials in pavement engineering

Abstract

Solid waste materials refer to those municipal or industrial or even domestic wastes that are massively produced during manufacture as well as daily life. A wide variety of solid wastes are generated, but only a few of them are employed in pavement structures. To achieve the task, papers between 2014 and 2019 from top journals which address waste management, waste characterization, and economic and environmental assessment were collected at first. Then, the scope of solid waste materials was narrowed down based on their applications, In the end, six most popular solid waste materials were selected for further study and for the review, namely recycled concrete aggregates, reclaimed asphalt pavement, fly ash, bottom ash, waste rubber, and waste plastics. The reason why only these six solid waste materials are selected is that the rest are neither massively produced not can they be directly used in pavement structures. This review article contains structural properties, treatments, novel researches, environmental analysis, and economic analysis of each solid waste material. The objective of this review article is to provide future researchers with the latest research findings, limitations and improvements in this subject. In conclusion, quite a few novel researchers in terms of workmanship, construction methodology, and treatments are collected for all six materials. Furthermore, an increasing number of findings have proven that most solid waste materials have both environmental and economic benefits when applied in field. Future researchers are encouraged to implement researches on solid waste materials in pavement engineering with consideration of both material properties and environmental/economic effects.

TSC Opinion

Les déchets solides sont souvent des cendres ou des scories, mais aussi des pneus et des plastiques. Les auteurs présentent ici la possibilité de les incorporer dans la fabrication de chaussées routières ou urbaines. Ils ont analysé les études techniques et les impacts observés sur l’environnement. Dans leur conclusion ils proposent de stimuler la R&D sur l’intégration de ces matériaux dans les chaussées au niveau de la structure ou des revêtements car cela apporterait un bénéfice économique et environnemental. Ces fins de vie gérées sur le long terme semblent apporter une solution, mais elles restent dans une logique linéaire, car il y a peu de chance que les chaussées en fin de vie fassent l’objet de recyclage. Ce sont donc des solutions à court terme pour des déchets qui ne peuvent pas entrer dans des boucles d’économie circulaire.