Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Performance and environmental impacts of waste plastic-modified asphalt pavement: a comprehensive review

This review examined recent research on using waste plastic to modify asphalt pavement and found that it generally improves road durability while reducing harmful emissions during production. However, challenges remain around plastic-bitumen compatibility and potential microplastic release during the pavement's lifetime, and the authors call for more standardized environmental assessments to ensure the approach is truly sustainable.

2025 Cleaner Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Engineering properties, microplastics and emissions assessment of recycled plastic modified asphalt mixtures

Researchers evaluated the mechanical performance and environmental impact of adding recycled low-density polyethylene and commingled plastics to hot-mix asphalt, finding reduced moisture resistance but also assessing microplastic release and emissions from these recycled plastic-modified road materials.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in the construction of sustainable asphalt roads with recycled plastic

This review examines the growing use of recycled plastics in road asphalt, tracing the practice back to the 1980s and identifying key challenges around performance, durability, and the risk of microplastic release from plastic-modified road surfaces. The authors conclude that while promising for waste reduction, more research is needed on long-term environmental impacts.

2022 Polymer International 45 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Recycled Plastics in Asphalt Mixtures: A Systematic Review of Mechanical Performance, Environmental Impact and Practical Implementation

This systematic review evaluates using recycled plastics in road asphalt as a way to reduce plastic waste. The research found that incorporating recycled plastic can actually improve road durability while diverting waste from landfills. This approach matters for microplastic reduction because it locks plastic into road surfaces rather than allowing it to break down freely in the environment.

2025 Applied Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigating the Potential Release of Microplastics from Recycled Plastic Modified Asphalt Pavement

Researchers investigated whether microplastics are released from recycled plastic-modified asphalt pavement, examining the potential for road surfaces incorporating plastic waste to become a secondary source of microplastic pollution in surrounding environments.

2025
Article Tier 2

Exploring the effect on the environment of encapsulated micro- and nano-plastics into asphalt mastics for road pavement.

This study tested whether encapsulating waste plastic material into asphalt for road pavement reduces environmental release of micro- and nanoplastics compared to conventional asphalt. The results suggest that this approach can reduce plastic fragment release into the environment while providing a practical use for plastic waste in road infrastructure.

2023 Environmental research
Article Tier 2

Optimization of Asphalt Concrete Performance Using Waste Plastic Bottles (WPB) as a Sustainable Bitumen Modifier: A Comprehensive Rheological and Mechanical Assessment

Not relevant to microplastics — this study evaluates waste plastic bottles as a bitumen modifier to improve asphalt road performance, testing mechanical and thermal properties; it addresses plastic reuse in construction rather than environmental microplastic pollution.

2026 American Journal of Civil Engineering
Article Tier 2

Incorporating Waste Plastics into Pavement Materials: A Review of Opportunities, Risks, Environmental Implications, and Monitoring Strategies

This review examines the opportunities and risks of incorporating waste plastics into pavement construction materials, critically assessing performance benefits, environmental implications including microplastic release, and future directions for sustainable integration of plastic waste in road infrastructure.

2025 Applied Sciences
Systematic Review Tier 1

The Use of Waste Polymers in Asphalt Mixtures: Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review

This systematic review examines how waste plastics can be recycled into asphalt road mixtures, potentially reducing plastic waste in the environment. Researchers found that adding polymer waste to asphalt can actually improve road durability while diverting plastics from landfills and waterways. This matters because reducing plastic waste at the source is one way to lower the amount of microplastics that eventually break down and enter our food and water.

2023 Journal of Composites Science 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic-Waste-Modified Asphalt for Sustainable Road Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Review

This review provides a comprehensive analysis of using waste plastics to modify asphalt for road construction, covering six major plastic types and both wet and dry processing methods. The study evaluated 42 peer-reviewed studies and found that integrating waste plastics into asphalt can enhance pavement performance while promoting circular economy principles, though environmental considerations such as microplastic release need further assessment.

2025 Sustainability 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Generated from Recycled Plastic Modified Asphalt Pavement: Method Development and Laboratory Evaluation

This study developed laboratory methods to measure how much microplastic is shed by asphalt pavement made with recycled plastic, filling an important knowledge gap as recycled-plastic roads are promoted as a sustainability solution. The research raises the concern that pavements incorporating waste plastic could become a previously unrecognized source of microplastic pollution over their service life.

2026 Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review of Applications and Environmental Risks of Waste Plastics in Asphalt Pavements

This comprehensive review examined the use of waste plastics (PE, PP, PS, PVC, PET) as asphalt modifiers, covering modification mechanisms, incorporation techniques (wet and dry processes), and environmental risks. While waste-plastic asphalt can improve high-temperature stability and reduce landfill disposal, microplastic shedding from pavement wear remains an unresolved environmental hazard.

2025 Materials 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Developing Sustainable Asphalt Mixtures Using High-Density Polyethylene Plastic Waste Material

Researchers evaluated asphalt mixtures incorporating high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic waste as a sustainable road pavement material, assessing whether recycled plastic can improve or maintain pavement performance while addressing plastic waste disposal.

2023 Sustainability 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Utilization of plastic waste in hot mix asphalt using dry mixing processes: Laboratory assessment of airborne microplastics

Researchers tested whether using recycled plastic waste in asphalt road construction releases harmful airborne microplastics during mixing, laying, and use. Lab tests confirmed that the recycled plastic asphalt did not produce detectable airborne microplastic particles, and pollutant emissions like fine particulate matter and volatile organic compounds stayed within acceptable limits. The findings suggest this recycling approach can safely reduce plastic waste without creating new airborne microplastic health risks.

2025 Results in Engineering 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances in Polymer-Modified and Plastic-Reinforced Asphalt: A Comprehensive Review of Performance, Rheology, and Sustainability

Researchers reviewed recent developments in polymer-modified and plastic-reinforced asphalt systems, synthesising findings on performance enhancement, rheological behaviour, and sustainability implications of incorporating recycled plastics and polymer modifiers into asphalt binders and mixtures.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Evaluation of Properties and Mechanisms of Waste Plastic/Rubber-Modified Asphalt

This engineering study investigated using a mixture of waste polyethylene plastic and recycled rubber tire material to modify road asphalt, improving its performance while diverting waste from landfills. The modified asphalt showed improved resistance to rutting and cracking. While not directly about microplastic health risks, using waste plastics in road construction could reduce the amount available to fragment into environmental microplastics.

2021 Coatings 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of marine microplastics on the mechanical performance of bituminous binder for road asphalt pavements

Researchers investigated the effects of marine-sourced microplastics as additives in bituminous binders used for road asphalt pavements, finding that incorporating marine microplastics into bitumen improved mechanical road performance while simultaneously providing a recycling pathway for plastic waste collected from marine environments.

2025 Transportation research procedia
Systematic Review Tier 1

Life Cycle Assessment of Road Pavements That Incorporate Waste Reuse: A Systematic Review and Guidelines Proposal

This systematic review examines life cycle assessments of roads built with recycled waste materials, including plastic. The research evaluates whether incorporating waste into road construction is truly more environmentally sustainable across the full life cycle. Using plastic waste in road building is one approach to keeping it out of the environment, though concerns remain about microplastic release from road surfaces over time.

2023 Sustainability 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Paving the road to a circular economy: Analysis of microplastic and plastic additive leachates from asphalt containing recycled plastics in Hawai'i

Researchers analyzed microplastic and chemical additive leaching from three asphalt formulations — standard polymer-modified asphalt, virgin HDPE-modified asphalt, and recycled post-industrial HDPE-modified asphalt — used in a pilot project on O'ahu, Hawai'i, providing the first assessment of contamination potential from recycled-plastic road infrastructure.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Plastic Waste in Road Construction - A Path Worth Paving?: Application of Dry Process in South Asia

This review evaluates the use of waste plastic as a bitumen modifier in road construction ("plastic roads"), finding that while the technology is being piloted globally, major gaps remain around long-term engineering performance, environmental risks, and potential microplastic leaching from road surfaces. Of particular concern is whether road wear could release microplastics into stormwater runoff and surrounding soils, adding a new and widespread source of environmental contamination. The authors conclude that plastic roads should not be promoted as a waste solution until these environmental and health risks are rigorously assessed.

2023 World Bank eBooks 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Recycling/reuse of plastic waste as construction material for sustainable development: a review

Researchers reviewed how waste plastic can be incorporated into construction materials — as binders, aggregates, or cement substitutes in bricks, tiles, concrete, and roads — finding that plastic-modified materials often show competitive strength properties while simultaneously diverting plastic waste from landfills.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 264 citations
Article Tier 2

Paving the road to a circular economy: Analysis of microplastic and plastic additive leachates from asphalt containing recycled plastics in Hawai'i

Researchers conducted the first in-depth analysis of microplastic and plastic additive leaching from asphalt pavement containing recycled post-industrial high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic on O'ahu, Hawai'i, testing three asphalt mixes and finding that recycled-plastic-modified asphalt released measurable microplastics and chemical additives into leachate.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review on the Use of Polyethylene Waste in Hot Mix Asphalt: Material Properties, Performance Enhancement, and Sustainability Perspectives

This review examines the use of low-density and high-density polyethylene waste as modifiers in hot mix asphalt, finding that PE incorporation can improve binder performance and pavement durability while diverting plastic waste from landfills. The authors assess material properties, environmental benefits, and economic considerations, positioning plastic-modified asphalt as a viable circular economy approach in road construction.

2025 Journal of Engineering
Article Tier 2

From Waste to Sustainable Pavements: A Systematic and Scientometric Assessment of E-Waste-Derived Materials in the Asphalt Industry

This systematic and scientometric review assessed research on using e-waste-derived materials in asphalt pavement, evaluating their performance and contribution to sustainable development goals. The authors found that incorporating recycled e-waste components into pavement can reduce landfill burden and improve certain road performance characteristics, though concerns about leaching of heavy metals and plastic additives require further investigation.

2025 Sustainability