Jul 23, 2018
Results Are In: NAPA’s Annual Warm-Mix and Recycled Asphalt Survey
BY AsphaltPro Staff
Last week, the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published its 8th annual report on the use of recycled materials and warm-mix asphalt.
In 2017, nearly 40 percent of asphalt pavement was produced as warm-mix asphalt, totaling 147.4 million tons nationwide. That’s nearly an 800 percent increase since NAPA and FHWA began conducting these surveys in 2009.
During that same year, more than 76.2 million tons of RAP–a 36 percent increase since 2009–and 950,000 tons of RAS were put to use in new pavements in the U.S.
That use of recycled materials saved about 50 million cubic yards of landfill space and saved taxpayers more than $2.2 billion.
By the end of 2017, NAPA estimates more than 100 million tons of RAP have been stockpiled for future use across the country.
“As early as 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Highway Administration identified asphalt pavement as America’s No. 1 recycled product in a report to Congress,” reads the survey’s page on NAPA’s website. “Over the years, the asphalt pavement industry has been a constant innovator in finding ways to make its products more environmentally friendly — from reclaiming old asphalt pavements and rejuvenating their component parts for use in new pavements to the incorporation of recycled materials to the adoption of energy-saving warm-mix asphalt technologies.”
The survey results are based on information provided by 238 companies with 1,158 plants nationwide, along with data from state asphalt pavement associations for 32 states.
To read the full report, visit NAPA’s website or click here.