Recycled Plastics in Infrastructure: Current Practices, Understanding, and Opportunities (2023) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Summary
Summary
Pages 1-8
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
|
From page 2... ...
The study's findings and conclusions, presented below, point to the opportunity to expand reuse of plastics in infrastructure applications, but, because of the lack of data and essential life-cycle analyses, it is not clear that the pathway of using recycled plastics in new infrastructure products offers the greatest benefit to society. Whether the reuse of plastics waste in infrastructure is an optimal choice, compared to other plastics reuse and recycling opportunities, is dependent on many factors, including what environmental and societal problem is trying to be solved, such as reduction of plastics waste disposal in landfills, reduction of plastic debris in rivers and the ocean, or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
|
From page 3... ...
Further research and testing to increase understanding of these factors will be critically important to the prospects for use of recycled plastics as a feedstock for asphalt pavement that is commercially viable and potentially helpful in reducing the amount of plastics waste disposed of in landfills or leaked to the environment. MAKING THE BEST USE OF LIMITED SUPPLIES OF RECYCLED PLASTICS Expansion of infrastructure applications of recycled plastics will depend on plastics supplies having requisite physical and chemical properties with minimal contamination and being available in sufficient quantities and with sufficient reliability.
|
From page 4... ...
EXPANDING THE SUPPLY OF HIGH-QUALITY RECYCLED PLASTICS Increasing the supply of high-quality recycled plastics that can be used in infrastructure and other applications will require supportive state and local policies and practices affecting the collection of plastics waste streams, their processing into recycled plastics, and incentives for their reuse. Examples of supportive policies are state laws and regulations that require municipalities and counties to institute recycling programs and that specify minimum recycled content for certain plastic products in packaging.
|
From page 5... ...
RECOMMENDATIONS To reduce plastics waste litter and disposal in landfills, and to capture energy and resources embodied in plastic materials, it is in society's economic and environmental interest to expand and standardize the collection of plastics waste, increase recycling of plastics for reuse, and advance new applications for their use. In light of this societal interest, and because the collection, processing, and reuse of plastics waste in the United States is affected significantly by government policies and regulations, the public sector -- at the federal, state, and local levels -- will need to play a prominent role in furthering these outcomes.
|
From page 6... ...
Environmental Protection Agency should support the research and data collection that will be required to understand and evaluate each use's potential environmental, human health, economic, and performance implications. Recommendation 2 To support assessments of how existing and new applications of recovered plastics will affect the total demand for plastics waste in relation to supplies, the U.S.
|
From page 7... ...
Environmental Protection Agency should work with members of the community of practice to identify specific policies and regulations that have been shown, or hold promise, to support and incentivize plastics recycling in an efficient and equitable manner, including (a) the use of processes for managing plastics waste, (b)
|
From page 8... ...
Department of Transportation should, with involvement of the modal agencies, inventory all current and prospective transportation applications of recycled plastics, assess their likelihood (in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the recommended interagency working group)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.