Environmentally Friendly and Economical Road Construction: Manufacture of Specific Asphalt Binder for Use in Paving by Using Waste and Low Cost Materials

Environmental pollution is a major problem in developing countries like Egypt. Reuse of waste polymers is considered an attractive solution for environmental white pollution and reducing of the costs of road pavement and maintenance. This work show that how to prepare environmentally friendly hot mix asphalt (HMA) for paving. The prepared mixes consisted of high absorptive aggregate (not used in road paving), marble powder (discarded from workshops and factories) and waste polymers (as asphalt modifiers). To achieve this aim, asphalt cement of penetration grade 60/70 was modified with a percentage ranging from 5 to 15% by weight of spent toner (discarded from photo copier machines), waste polypropylene (discarded from carpet industry) and polyester (discarded from printing and packing industries) separately. The prepared HMA had moderate characteristics compared to ordinary one. Also, high absorptive aggregate and waste products of industry could be used in road construction with net result of decreasing maintenance cost, preservation the premium aggregate for longest period of time and decrease the space needed for land filling of non degradable waste materials.