| Japan is known for high recycling ratio of industrial wastes. In fact, recycling of bituminous and concrete block debris recorded 98% in 2000. This outstanding high ratio is still being kept. Set aside a huge number of asphalt plants located throughout the country, this big success is supported by environmental regulations from the government, and followed by the technical guidelines and standards issued by Japan Road Association (JRA).One of current technical problems is reduction of penetration of extracted bitumen from reclaimed materials, because of repeated recycling times and uses of modified bitumen increased. Another issue is that among the 98% recycling shares, 60% are recycled for asphalt mix and the rest of 40% for base course layers. On the other positive side, the Japanese paving industry is challenging to accept various out-of-the-industry recyclable resources such as glass cutlet, steel slags, etc. for the society.From now on, the Japanese road sector needs to focus not only on the quantity of recycling, but also on the quality of it. |
