Analysis of the Opportunities, Benefits and Risks Associated with the Use of Recycled Materials in Flexible Aircraft Pavements

Sean Jamieson; Luke Verstraten; Greg White

doi:10.3390/ma18133036

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Analysis of the Opportunities, Benefits and Risks Associated with the Use of Recycled Materials in Flexible Aircraft Pavements

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Analysis of the Opportunities, Benefits and Risks Associated with the Use of Recycled Materials in Flexible Aircraft Pavements

Sean Jamieson, Luke Verstraten and Greg White

Materials, Vol.18(13), pp.1-26

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18133036

PMCID: PMC12251379

PMID: 40649523

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Abstract

airport

flexible pavement

life cycle assessment

sustainability

recycling

waste materials

EPDs

International waste policy promotes the reduction and re-use of waste materials, and in some cases, specifically calls for the use of recycled materials in pavements. In countries like Australia, most of the aircraft pavement network is constructed of flexible pavements. Consequently, understanding the opportunities for recycled materials in flexible aircraft pavements is paramount to increasing the technology uptake. This paper reviews opportunities for the incorporation of recycled materials in flexible airport pavement construction, specifically, their application to particle substitution in unbound and asphaltic layers, use in stabilization treatments, and use as a bitumen modifier. Additionally, environmental product declarations are reviewed to provide a range of typical environmental costs for each recycled material when considering material processing for incorporation into flexible pavements. These materials are compared to virgin material environmental costs to determine which recycled materials provide the highest environmental benefit potential. It was concluded that particle replacement in unbound layers with waste materials had a similar environmental cost to using virgin materials. However, the requirement to dispose of waste material to the landfill can be significantly reduced. For asphaltic layers, recycled asphalt pavement as an asphalt mixture replacement, fly ash as a hydrated lime replacement, and waste plastic and crumbed rubber as a virgin polymer replacement all are effective in reducing the environmental cost. To further increase the technology uptake, a risk-based approach for the implementation of waste materials in airport flexible pavements is recommended, which considers performance testing, the depth of the pavement layer, and the pavement functional area.

Details

Title: Analysis of the Opportunities, Benefits and Risks Associated with the Use of Recycled Materials in Flexible Aircraft Pavements
Authors: Sean Jamieson - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Luke Verstraten - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Greg White (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Publication details: Materials, Vol.18(13), pp.1-26
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.3390/ma18133036
ISSN: 1996-1944
PMID: 40649523; PMC12251379
Copyright note: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: No new data were created or analyzed in this study.
Grants: ARC Research Hub for Smart Next Generation Transport Pavements, IH180100010, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991140388202621
Output Type: Journal article

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