NAPA publishes latest recycling, WMA survey results
The continued use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in road construction across the country once again revealed the industry to be one of the most diligent in reducing the amounts of material sent to landfills. 2022 data collected by NAPA showed 93 percent of asphalt mixture was used to construct new pavements, with the remainder going toward other civil construction applications.
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Since 2009, NAPA has been collecting data on the asphalt pavement industry’s use of recycled materials and warm-mix asphalt via an annual survey of asphalt mix producers to determine the nationwide usage of RAP, recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) and WMA technologies. Reported totals are annually published in a report, “Asphalt Pavement Industry Survey on Recycled Materials and Warm-Mix Asphalt Usage.“
In the latest report, 235 companies from all 50 states and the District of Columbia shared the 2022 production totals from 1,305 asphalt mix plants. In total, asphalt mixture production increased by 2 percent from 2021 to 441.9 million tons.
Since NAPA began collecting data in 2009, the use of RAP tonnage has increased by 75.2 percent, while total asphalt mixture tonnage has increased 23.3 percent. RAP usage during the 2022 paving season reduced the need for an estimated 26.9 million barrels of asphalt binder and more than 93 million tons of aggregate. RAP storage for future use also reduced the needed landfill space by 68.2 million cubic yards.
Manufacturers also kept 641,000 tons of unprocessed RAS out of landfills nationwide, as RAS usage increased by 7 percent over 2021 totals, reducing the need for 740,000 barrels of asphalt binder.
The usage of warm-mix asphalt technologies decreased by 1.6 percent from 2021, with decreased WMA tonnage in the commercial and residential sector leading the decline. Still, the 175 million tons of WMA mix, representing slightly less than 40 percent of the market, resulted in reduced greenhouse gas emissions on a scale equal to the annual emissions of 40,000 passenger vehicles.
