Jiangsu finds creative answer to plastic waste

The world's first pavement incorporating dual-blend recycled plastics with asphalt mixtures was inaugurated in Jiangsu province on Monday, a significant step toward sustainable infrastructure development by demonstrating a practical and scalable solution to plastic waste.

The pavement, located in Suqian of Jiangsu province, and jointly operated by Saudi Aramco and the China Building Materials Academy (CBMA), demonstrates an innovative application where recycled thermoplastics replaced 20 percent of asphalt and recycled thermosetting plastics substituted 50 percent of fillers in a 2-kilometer-long, 6.4-meter-wide road section.

The project utilized 33.4 metric tons of recycled plastic, resulting in an 18.6 percent reduction in the overall cost of the asphalt mixture and a 36 percent decrease in carbon emissions, a successful high-value application for waste plastics.

According to Hou Shuguang, a professor at Nanjing Tech University, the large-scale application of recycled plastic dual-blend technology in national asphalt pavement construction and highway maintenance could potentially achieve an annual utilization of over 8 million tons of recycled thermoplastics and an annual consumption of over 19 million tons of recycled thermosetting plastics.

This represents 43 percent of China's total annual plastic waste volume, while driving a shift in the road construction sector from resource-intensive practices to an eco-value-added model, he said.

China is not only a major country in global transportation infrastructure, but also a powerful nation in infrastructure construction, with annual asphalt consumption accounting for 42 percent of the world's total, he said.

"If 20 percent of asphalt is replaced by waste thermoplastics and over 50 percent of mineral powder is replaced by waste thermosetting plastics in the future, the overall asphalt cost could be reduced by approximately 15 percent, and mineral powder costs by about 60 percent."

Simultaneously, this would achieve large-scale utilization of waste plastics, resulting in considerable economic and environmental benefits, Hou added.

Globally, around 400 million tons of plastic waste is generated annually, with a historical accumulation exceeding 7 billion tons, yet less than 10 percent is recycled, according to the Nonmetallic Excellence and Innovation Center, a joint platform by Saudi Aramco and CBMA.

The world's first pavement incorporating dual-blend recycled plastics with asphalt mixtures not only tackles the secondary pollution caused by traditional plastics landfilling and incineration, but also the shortage of materials needed for road construction, it said.

The successful completion of the project represents a significant milestone in Saudi-Chinese joint innovation for sustainable, low-carbon solutions, said Nader Al Arfaj, managing director of Aramco China.

Looking ahead, Wen Zhaijun, vice-president of the CBMA, said, "The academy will double down on its commitment to driving innovation, strengthening our strategic partnership with Saudi Aramco, tackling technological bottlenecks, positioning advanced materials as the driving force for sustainable development."