European National Road Authorities and Circular Economy: An Insight into Their Approaches

Abstract

The pavement engineering industry, having realized the significance of the impacts that it imposes on the environment through the production, construction and management of its products and assets, has been driven towards a more sustainable and circular way of operating. This has partly been through asphalt recycling, which is an area that many road authorities have prioritized. However, not all the National Road Authorities (NRAs) and/or sector stakeholders seem to be adequately familiar with the Circular Economy (CE) concept. This paper attempts to assist the transition of NRAs to a more circular way of doing business, by analyzing the current situation of CE within national/regional authorities and NRAs. To do so, a questionnaire was sent to different NRAs and an online search was conducted to identify the ways that NRAs communicate their CE practices. Findings indicate that, although the majority of the NRAs are familiar with CE as a concept, not many actions have been taken so far towards its holistic implementation. Finally, there is a significant lack of CE expertise and communication within these bodies.

Evaluation of Physical, Chemical, and Environmental Properties of Biomass Bottom Ash for Use as a Filler in Bituminous Mixtures

“…According to the hypotheses developed, and taking as a basis a new circular economy in which waste is the raw material for new materials [3], various research projects have been carried out in which industrial by-products were used in bituminous mixtures [4,5]. The wastes used in bituminous mixes have been ladle furnace slag [6,7], electric arc furnace slag [8], reclaimed asphalt pavement [9,10], scrap tyres [11], recycled glass [12], ceramic dust [13], etc.…”

Special Issue: Characterization of Innovative Asphalt Materials for Use in Pavement Design and Analysis

“…The development of innovative and sustainable materials for use in asphalt pavement applications has received increasing attention over the past 20 years, also thanks to the growing interest in the circular economy approach, which is replacing the linear one [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. High-performance [ 7 , 8 , 9 ] and/or innovative materials such as nanomaterials for asphalt modification [ 9 , 10 , 11 ] can be employed for investigating the possibility of achieving a longer service life of pavement structures, maximizing the material productivity.…”

From Buildings’ End of Life to Aggregate Recycling under a Circular Economic Perspective: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Case Study

“…During the latest years, a trend towards the development and implementation of decision-making support tools and guidelines in the sector of solid waste management has been detectable under the umbrella of the European Parliament's directive on waste and the European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan [1][2][3][4][5]. They vary from European directives and recommendations to scientific publications [6,7].…”

“…The process of utilizing reclaimed materials that otherwise could be perceived as waste in the road engineering industry is a commonly applied approach, especially when it comes to reclaimed asphalt. It is a process that is aligned with the principles of circular economy (CE) and can have significant potential economic and environmental benefits [4,[27][28][29]. CE is an economic approach that can allow the replacement of "end of life" with an approach that can offer the recovery, reuse, recycling, or even the upcycling of reclaimed materials, which, according to the well-established linear economic approach would be considered waste.…”