Speaker
Description
Abstract. In recent years, the use of recycled plastics in road pavements has gained momentum as another possible solution to reduce global plastic waste as we move towards an increasingly circular economy. In Portugal, studies on the use of recycled plastics in asphalt mixtures have been underway since 2011, reinforced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the Chinese ban on the acceptance of plastic waste in 2017 and the European Commission's new Circular Economy Action Plan 2020, in which plastics are one of the most important sectors. Despite this research, only in 2023, recycled plastics were used in the national road network, for the first time.
In order to contribute to the further discussion on the use of recycled plastics in Portugal, this paper aims to provide a global overview of plastics as a raw material for use on asphalt mixtures, the research and road applications carried out to date on this topic in Portugal, as well as the main conclusions and future research opportunities. Recycled plastics offer many opportunities, but also many challenges that need to be addressed to ensure environmental sustainability and maximize their potential benefits for pavements construction and rehabilitation.
