Asphalt working with the environment.
Asphalt and recycled asphalt in use work in harmony with the environment. Numerous leaching studies¹ demonstrate that asphalt easily meets all European limits for emissions to water.
Asphalt is used to line drinking water reservoirs, fish rearing ponds, and it is also used to line landfill sites containing domestic and hazardous wastes due to its excellent waterproofing and durability.
More information on Sustainability (of asphalt pavements)
On 16-17 December 2020, EAPA and the research project PavementLCM co-organised a webinar on the Sustainability Assessment of Asphalt Pavements, which gathered more than 150 experts from 35 countries around the world. In this video, Dr Breixo Gomez, EAPA Technical Director and Prof. Davide LoPresti, Coordinator of PavementLCM, summarise the highlights of the Webinar and discuss how to further develop the topic in future events.
Sources:
“Study on methodological aspects regarding limit values for pollutants in aggregates in the context of the possible development of end-of-waste criteria under the EU Waste Framework Directive” by Hans Saveyn, Peter Eder, Elena Garbarino, Lenka Muchova, Ole Hjelmar, Hans van der Sloot, Rob Comans, André van Zomeren, Jiri Hyks, Anke Oberender, 2014, JRC Technical Reports (Report EUR 26769 EN)
Aqueous leaching of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from bitumen and asphalt. H.C.A. Brandt, P.C. de Groot, Water Research, Vol. 35 (17) (2001) pp. 4200-4207
IS-186 Asphalt Use in Water Environments; Asphalt Institute, ISBN 9781934154410
¹ The term ‘leaching’ refers to the ability of soluble components to be released from a material in contact with water.
