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.