Using our model for creating New End Market Opportunities (NEMO), Plastics Industry Association’s (PLASTICS’) continues to advance a research effort to explore using post-consumer recycled PE films as polymer additives in asphalt binder. In conjunction with the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), the team has developed a formulation using the recycled PE that is comparable in most performance areas to that of traditional, virgin polymers used in asphalt today. The formulation could reduce the cost of polymer modified asphalt and CO2 emissions, helping to improve the performance, environmental impact, and lifespan of asphalt applications.
Following the successful completion of lab testing, several companies have volunteered to trail the formulation in a range of privately funded projects. Cohort participants include: Chevron Phillips Chemical, LyondellBasell Industries, Target Corporation and S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.