1st Annual Asphalt Pavement Industry Survey on Recycled Materials and Warm-Mix Asphalt Usage

In 2009 and 2010, the Federal Highway Administration contracted with the National Asphalt Pavement Association for a systematic survey of implementation/adoption of three key areas: reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), reclaimed asphalt shingles (RAS), and warm-mix asphalt. This document presents the results of that survey.

The objective of this survey, first conducted for the 2009 and 2010 construction seasons, was to quantify the use of recycled materials, primarily RAP and RAS, as well as the use of WMA technologies by the asphalt pavement industry.

Highlight features & benefits

• Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement: The asphalt industry remains the country’s number one recycler. About 96 percent of the contractors/
  branches reported using RAP. The amount of RAP used in HMA/WMA was 56.0 million tons in 2009 and 62.1 million tons in 2010. Assuming 5 percent liquid asphalt in RAP, this represents over 3 million tons (19 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved. Less than 1 percent of RAP was sent to landfills.
• Reclaimed Asphalt Shingles: Use of reclaimed asphalt shingles (both manufacturer’s waste and tear-offs) increased from 702,000 to 1.10 million tons from 2009 to 2010, a 57 percent increase. Assuming a conservative asphalt content of 20
  percent for the shingles, this represents 234,000 tons (1.5 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved.
• Warm-Mix Asphalt Technologies: Total tonnage of WMA is estimated at 19.2 million tons in 2009 and 47.6 million tons in 2010. This was a 148 percent increase. Plant foaming is used most often in producing WMA. Additives accounted for about 17 percent of the total WMA production in 2009 and 8 percent in 2010.