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From page 325... ... Appendix H The Life-Cycle Environmental Benefits and Trade-Offs of Plastics Waste Recycling and Reuse in Infrastructure Hasini Siriwardana, Milena Rangelov, Paul Rikhter, and Sangwon Suh VitalMetrics INTRODUCTION Background The word "plastics" is a colloquial term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymer materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened to retain the given shape (Science History Institute 2022) Read the entire page →
From page 326... ... 326 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE it is 221 kg, 114 kg in European OECD countries, and 69 kg in Japan and Korea combined (OECD 2022c) Read the entire page →
From page 327... ... APPENDIX H 327 plastics, do not have a purpose in the end market, while rigid plastics are in much higher demand. Soft and flexible plastics continue to be a significant concern because their repurposing is challenging (Austroads 2019) Read the entire page →
From page 328... ... 328 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE aggregates) , and a portion of aggregate is often replaced by recycled materials or industrial waste products (Williams et al. Read the entire page →
From page 329... ... APPENDIX H 329 reuse of plastics recyclates in the production of other types of products, such as textiles, electronics, or infrastructure, which is the focus of this study) Read the entire page →
From page 330... ... 330 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE In the following sections, we will provide an overview of the current use of EoL plastics in infrastructure projects, environmental and social benefits of using EoL plastics, challenges of using EoL plastics for infrastructure projects, relevant LCA studies, and further innovations. More details on terms and definitions discussed in the report are in Annex H-1. Read the entire page →
From page 331... ... APPENDIX H 331 content in each mixture. The literature sources specific to the use of EoL plastics in asphalt mixtures, which is the area with the highest availability of research studies, are shown in Annex H-1. Read the entire page →
From page 332... ... 332 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE wood–plastic composites, concrete blocks, mortars, and incorporating plastics waste into asphalt pavements, are today possible and sustainable practice (Eskandarsefat et al. Read the entire page →
From page 333... ... APPENDIX H 333 ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL BENEFITS OF USING EoL PLASTICS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to quantify the environmental impacts of products and processes throughout their life cycle, including extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, consumption, and disposal. Read the entire page →
From page 334... ... 334 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE facilities in Victoria, Australia. Asphalt mixtures with PE added through the dry process have higher environmental impacts relative to the hot-mix asphalt (HMA) Read the entire page →
From page 335... ... APPENDIX H 335 A summary of the revised literature on the LCA of asphalt mixtures with EoL plastics is provided in Table H-1. As shown in Table H-1, most identified studies were published after 2020, indicating the increasing interest in this topic. Read the entire page →
From page 336... ... 336 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE and in situ test sections, would enable more reliable LCA results and support for life-cycle thinking. Future recyclability of asphalt with the addition of EoL plastics is another area that necessitates future research. Read the entire page →
From page 337... ... APPENDIX H 337 Tahanpour Javadabadi (2019) conducted a study to evaluate the use of recycled PET as a fine aggregate replacement in concrete. Read the entire page →
From page 338... ... 338 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE FEASIBILITY AND CHALLENGES OF EoL PLASTICS USE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS The increasing interest in the use of EoL plastics in infrastructure has accelerated the rate of related research and development. In terms of deployment, however, the efforts are still limited. Read the entire page →
From page 339... ... APPENDIX H 339 et al. Read the entire page →
From page 340... ... 340 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE with aggregates for the on-site preparation (Willis and Yin 2022) Read the entire page →
From page 341... ... APPENDIX H 341 eyes, throat, and skin than workers exposed to conventional asphalt mixtures (Väänänen et al. 2006; Wu and Montalvo 2021) Read the entire page →
From page 342... ... 342 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE The cycles of pavement maintenance are mainly contingent on the pavement performance, which depends on multiple variables, including the material performance, construction quality, local conditions, and subgrade. Because implementation of the use of plastics has been relatively new and assessed mainly in the laboratory, the field performance, especially long term, is not known with certainty. Read the entire page →
From page 343... ... APPENDIX H 343 mixed polymer bottles (£115 per tonne) , and LDPE 98:2 film (£275 per tonne) Read the entire page →
From page 344... ... 344 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE safety concerns. Huang et al. Read the entire page →
From page 345... ... APPENDIX H 345 Another route for innovation focuses on the disposal and allocation of impacts of plastics along with technical feasibility. One innovation discussed in the literature explores the upcycling of waste plastic into waste graphene. Read the entire page →
From page 346... ... 346 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE cost of the materials themselves. However, the majority of innovation is focused on the technical rather than the economic lens. Read the entire page →
From page 347... ... APPENDIX H 347 construction and use of these facilities, while also creating a benefit in the logistics involving plastics waste and EoL plastics. However, this model depends on the effective application of these EoL plastics to infrastructure and other industries, and would require significant demand and collaboration. Read the entire page →
From page 348... ... 348 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE may be a need for additional incentives for plastics waste use, as it does present some challenges technically and is often more expensive than conventional materials used. Furthermore, the infrastructure already has a relatively high rate of closed-loop recycling, and increasing EoL plastics used in construction and infrastructure materials may compromise the recycling of other materials. Read the entire page →
From page 349... ... APPENDIX H 349 plastics waste rerouting options on the industry level is important research need to gain a broader perspective. While most studies focus on technical applications, none of the studies reviewed give an estimate of how global environmental burdens are affected by the production, use, and disposal of the plastic and resulting mixes. Read the entire page →
From page 350... ... 350 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Ashoor, A S., Kareem, M Read the entire page →
From page 351... ... APPENDIX H 351 da Silva, T R., de Azevedo, A Read the entire page →
From page 352... ... 352 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Grenfell, J Read the entire page →
From page 353... ... APPENDIX H 353 Kishchynskyi, S., Nagaychuk, V., and Bezuglyi, A Read the entire page →
From page 354... ... 354 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Read the entire page →
From page 355... ... APPENDIX H 355 Reddy, N M., and Venkatasubbaiah, M Read the entire page →
From page 356... ... 356 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Vasudevan, R., Sekar, A Read the entire page →
From page 357... ... APPENDIX H 357 ANNEX H-1 TABLE H-5 Amounts and Types of EoL Plastics Used in Infrastructure Reference Types of EoL Plastic Used Type of Infrastructure Amount of Waste Plastic Content Abdel Bary et al. Read the entire page →
From page 358... ... 358 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Reference Types of EoL Plastic Used Type of Infrastructure Amount of Waste Plastic Content Casey et al. Read the entire page →
From page 359... ... APPENDIX H 359 Reference Types of EoL Plastic Used Type of Infrastructure Amount of Waste Plastic Content Khan and Sharma (2011) Nitrile rubber and PE combined Mixture 8% per weight of binder Khan et al. Read the entire page →
From page 360... ... 360 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Reference Types of EoL Plastic Used Type of Infrastructure Amount of Waste Plastic Content Punith and Veeraragavan (2007) LDPE Asphalt mixture for roads 0-10% per weight of binder Punith et al. Read the entire page →
From page 361... ... APPENDIX H 361 ANNEX H-2 TABLE H-6 Availability of Literature Level of Availability Number of References Low 0-7 Medium 7-20 High >20 Confidence in Conclusion The scale in Figure H-4 depicts the evidence and agreement statements and their relationship to confidence. Confidence increases toward the top-right corner as suggested by the increasing strength of shading. Read the entire page →

From page 325...

... Appendix H The Life-Cycle Environmental Benefits and Trade-Offs of Plastics Waste Recycling and Reuse in Infrastructure Hasini Siriwardana, Milena Rangelov, Paul Rikhter, and Sangwon Suh VitalMetrics INTRODUCTION Background The word "plastics" is a colloquial term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymer materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened to retain the given shape (Science History Institute 2022)