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Sustainable Pavement Design with Recycled Materials ǀ HIGHWAY AND

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING (Laboratory)

Experiment Findings · June 2024

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34017.72804

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Mudassar Fiaz
International Islamic University, Islamabad
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 International Islamic
University Islamabad

Open Ended Lab

HIGHWAY
AND TRAFFIC
ENGINEERING-LAB

10th June, 2024

Prepared By:
Mudassar Fiaz
(263-BSCE/F21)

Submitted To:
Engr. Waqas Haroon
 OPEN ENDED LAB
Sustainable Pavement Design with Recycled Materials
Objective
• Investigate the properties and viability of recycled materials in pavement construction.
• Analyze the performance and environmental impact of pavement designs incorporating
these materials.
• Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills within the framework of sustainable
engineering practices.

Abstract
Transportation Infrastructure has remained a key element for the economic and social
development. Especially in developing countries, the demand for new roads and
maintenance of existing roads is very high as they depend on the overall economic
development. These calls for transforming the methods the roads are being constructed.
Recent studies have shed light on the concept of making transportation system greener
and more sustainable, which can be a fast track to achieve the goals of saving the planet
from further generations. One of the effective ways of addressing this issue is by
substituting or replacing pavements layers by sustainable alternate materials. Promising
alternate materials have been investigated in road construction-specifically using recycled
wastes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental significances of alternate
materials such as recycled tires, recycled glass and waste plastics in road construction and
delineate their economic and environmental importance. This is addressed by comparing
various parameters such as global warming potential, carbon footprint, cost, and other
environmental impact factors. The results of this investigation showed that the use of these
materials in pavement construction has substantial environmental and economic benefits.
These results will assist in developing revised pavement design and construction methods
that are more efficient and economically feasible.

Keywords:
Industrial wastes, carbon footprint, climate change, recycled tyre wastes, recycled glass,
roads design, and sustainable transportation systems
Introduction
With seven billion people on the planet and another one billion expected, mankind and
other living organisms are suffering from a man-made disaster known as global climate
change. The need for taking strong actions has never been more serious analyzing at the
damages to the environment. Sustainable development is the development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their essential needs.(The Brundtland Commission, Oxford University Press, 1987)
Excessive burning of fossil fuel and natural resources has brought us to a position where
the planet is under maximum stress. This is the reason why sustainable development
practices are at the pinnacle of our responsibilities. The topic of sustainable development
is a concept which encompasses many factors such as sustaining biodiversity, social
sustainability, climate change mitigation and other factors. The major contributor to this
issue is our built environment. This is where we spend the maximum amount of resources
and fossil fuels resulting in excess carbon emissions and carbon footprint. The built
environment consists of all the structures ranging from buildings, roads, bridges, and all
other man-made entities which support human civilization.
Progress has been made in many sectors to embed sustainability in our daily lives but still
has miles to go achieving the desired balance between nature and human. As per the
Millennium Development Goals, the focus on sustaining health, wealth, better economy
and better-living conditions of people are at priority. This study will be an attempt to
solve one of the development goals which focuses on the built environment where
transportation infrastructure is one of its major components

Methodology
The study investigation is cross-sectional in nature and not experimental. After studying
the feasibility of the applications of alternative materials in road construction, data was
collected about the properties of these materials. Data was collected from secondary
resources, which included journal publications and company reviews. The data include
information about the carbon footprint, embodied energy, recyclability, present tradition,
and cost. The research used these data to compare the environmental properties and their
impacts. The study aims to give a basic framework to analyze differences in using virgin
materials over recycled industrial wastes in pavement design and construction. The
industrial wastes such as scrap tires, glass and plastics were chosen. Furthermore, this
research seeks to analyze these results and make an effort to claim the use of these
materials over virgin materials in road design and construction. The study focuses on
exploring the postulation of new materials for the substitution of traditional pavement
materials aiming at the reduction and degradation of natural resources and enhancing the
environmental sustainability.
 Recycle Tyres
Tire constitutes of rubber or elastomers, metals, textiles, additives, carbon-based materials
and chemicals such as sulfur and zinc oxides. Steel cords run through the tire and other
chemicals to make it more durable. The primary energy used is the burning of fossil fuels.
Each year 6162 trillion Btu of energy is spent in processing steel and other alloys (Design
lifecycle). After the acquisition of raw materials, they are shipped to the factories where
the final product is created.--. Millions of tires are discarded every year which is toxic in
nature. Although there are environmental laws, most of these tires end up in a landfill or
are incinerated which is a hazard to the ecology. This is an opportunity of recycling the tires
to its maximum potential. It can be used in various industries especially in the construction
environment. The use is promising and saves natural resources such as trees and asphalt.
A study done at the University of Wisconsin proved that mechanical scrap tires can be used
in the construction of pavements using various techniques (Eldin, 1992). The experiment
used tested different pavements using various composition of scrap tires and soil and
concluded that it is feasible to use tires in road construction with general maintenance.
Considering recycling of these tires, they cannot be directly used. This requires proper
recycling and converts them to final product for the road industry. ISRI (Institute of Scrap
Recycling Industries INC) measured the carbon footprint of recycling tires. The study was
successful and it concluded that energy from recycled rubber has a lower carbon footprint
than coal which is the main ingredient of energy production. The upstream carbon
footprint for the production of asphalt is 840kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per metric ton
whereas it Is 124 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent to recycle tires per metric ton. When used
in pavements, recycled rubber had between 3 and 7 times lower carbon footprint than
asphalt

Figure 1. Difference in carbon dioxide equivalent between asphalt & recycled tire, (ISRI,2009)
Cost Analysis:
If we take an example of using tires in the pavement we can derive various forms of layer
thickness. Taking into consideration a section from the study done at University of
Wisconsin Department of transportation, we can get an approximate volume of tires used
in one mile of road. From the figure, if we estimate for 1 mile of road, Approximate Volume
of tires =[3’x {16.5’+17’}/2] x 5280’]( (area of trapezium) which will be equal to 265,320
cubic feet of scrap tires.
Tire recycling is not a new business. Several firms focus on recycling tires into making the
various products but it has not been on a massive scale. This emphasizes that there is a
necessity of technological advancement in the recycling of these tires and diverting them
into the construction industry. The cost of recycling will decrease when their new plants
are installed which would cater to the demands. Taking the case of Gainesville, Florida let
us take a step in analyzing the approximate costs which are incurred in using traditional
material over industrial wastes. According to the department of Florida transportation,
construction of a 2 lane asphalt roadway of one center mile will cost $7,321,444 by
LRE(Long Range Estimates).

Recycled Industrial Waste Glass

The glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is produced by super cooling of a mixture
consisting silica sand (SiO2) and soda ash (sodium carbonate) to a rigid state. This super
cooled material does not crystallize and retains the internal structure. The other
constituents of the material consist of sodium oxide (Na2O), lime (CaO), and several minor
additives. These are used in the forms of bulbs, cathode ray tubes, bottles, glasses and for
packaging.
Silica sand is the main ingredient which is mixed with lime and soda and is heated at around
1500 °C using fossil fuels. The molten glass is passed over molten tin at 1000ºC and then
cooled in a controlled manner to form a continuous sheet. This produces a substance
known as Float glass whose thickness can range from 2 – 25 mm. Several other additives
are added like (Mg and Al2O3) to help the melting process, and other oxides are added for
color. The mining of silica sand which causes immense stress on the ecosystem. The
embodied energy of glass is approximately 15.9 MJ/Kg. (Andrew, 2010). Glass is 100%
recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without any loss in purity or quality. Over a ton of
natural resources are saved for every ton of glass recycled. The Energy costs drop about 2-
3% for every 10% cullet used in the manufacturing process.
The recycling of glass can be aggressively developed by using this in construction industries.
The use of recycled glass in the pavement construction can drastically save energy as well
as natural resources. When the waste glass is crushed to sand like particle sizes, similar to
those of natural sand, it exhibits properties of an aggregate material. Glass has been proven
as an effective fine aggregate and as an additive in the concrete. It can be applied in both
flexible and rigid pavements. Materials such as glass have more than 100 years durability
and remain unaffected by moisture content which is a required characteristic of good
pavement. Studies have shown that use of recycled glass surges sound insulation.

Figure 2. Comparison in process energy (Mil Btu) between virgin & recycled materials, (EPA 2011)

Figure 3. Comparison between virgin & recycled materials in terms of transportation energy (Mil
Btu), (EPA 2011)

Cost Analysis: Figure 4. Price Difference in replacing sand with waste glass (Ashish, 2016)
 Figure 4. Price Difference in replacing sand with waste glass (Ashish, 2016)

Recycled waste glasses can be applied in both rigid and flexible pavements as replacements
for aggregate. Assuming a rigid pavement, we can calculate the expenditure to replace the
waste glass with concrete. Waste glass can be procured for $10 a ton.(kdhnews,2013).
According to a study at the University of Baghdad(2008), it is possible to replace 20% of the
pavement with recycled glass without any changes of the strength and performance of the
rigid pavement.

Conclusion
One of the key challenges facing infrastructure construction is spreading awareness of the
necessity for a shift in design and construction of transportation systems. Using traditional
materials for road construction has many negative economic impacts and contributes to
ecological imbalance. There are needs for new guidelines that are compatible and
consistent with the alternative sustainable materials and methods of construction. This
study aimed at investigating alternate sustainable materials for road construction and
determines factors that depict environmental advantages of using these alternate
materials. When comparing parameters such as embodied energy, the study showed that
using industrial waste materials (recycled tires, glass, and plastic) in road construction does
have less expenditure in energy and is environmentally safe.
The outcomes of this study provide basic principles to encourage respective authorities to
design and construct roadways using recycled industrial wastes in developing countries and
emerging economies such as India, Brazil, China and other such countries. These research
results aim to promote sustainable transportation infrastructures to advance prosperous
economic development around the world.

References
Integration-of-Recycled-Industrial-Wastes-into-and-Asutosh-
Nawari/4776d695d9c7f3d3ba3b0a3d0e22d7d1b9e2f28c?utm_source=direct_link
Using multiple floats to average out surface anomalies. EAl-Tameemi, A. A., Al-Mansob, R.
A., Hafez, H. A., Yusoff, N. I. M., & Abed, A. H. (2019). Utilization of waste materials in
pavement construction: A review. Construction and Building Materials, 224, 203-
[Link] more advanced current meters with automatic data logging.

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