Japanese road construction contractor Nippon Road and chemical producer Kao Corporation have jointly developed highly durable asphalt made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate. As increasing waste plastic becomes a social issue, the companies hope to contribute to the environment by making it reusable for pavement. About 1500 plastic bottles can be reused on a hundred square meter pavement area. According to Nippon Road, this is the first development of asphalt mixture with recycled PET in the industry.

The companies will begin the sales of the product in 2021. It is expected to be applied to places where durability is required, such as heavy traffic roads, logistics facilities, and rest areas on expressways. Nippon Road intends to introduce the asphalt nationwide as an alternative to the conventional semi-flexible pavement with high durability, aiming for construction of 200,000 square meters per year.

"Super Polyascon" was developed by the two companies last year. Kao's high-performance asphalt additive "New Track" added to Super Polyascon is mixed with chemically treated waste plastic, and kneaded with asphalt. It was confirmed at the test construction that the quality and workability of the product was equivalent to those of the conventional asphalt.

In addition to being highly durable and able to reduce the life cycle costs, it is also expected to contribute to the reduction of environmental impact. While having the same durability as semi-flexible pavement, injecting cement milk is not required, and the process can be shortened by 50% compared to the conventional semi-flexible pavement. (2020/10/07)