Imagine a thinner layer of pavement on roads that lasts longer than traditional asphalt, is less apt to crack and rut and costs significantly less than what municipalities are paying now.
Then imagine that this can be achieved by introducing finely ground recycled asphalt roof shingles and used tires into the paving mix.
According to Ed Naris of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the state has already already begun doing this as a preservation treatment on areas of select high-volume highways such as Interstate 91 and Routes 2 and 146.
State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, would like to see this option expanded to cities and towns as a means to save residents and municipalities money, increase the safety of roadways, create jobs and find uses for items that would otherwise end up in landfills.
Eldridge has filed a bill to create an Office of Clean Technology, which would focus on increasing clean technology sector businesses, jobs, research and development. He is also spearheading the Rubberized Asphalt Initiative, a movement to use these recycled materials in paving mix.
On Friday morning, Eldridge met with recycling industry representatives, MassDOT and other state and local officials to discuss the initiative and to tour the Recycle America facility in Fitchburg. As a processor of used asphalt shingles, Recycle America, as well as Liberty Tire Recycling of Littleton, Roof Top Recycling of Boxboro and E.L. Harvey of Westboro, are poised to become a big part of the movement to use more recycled materials in paving.
“There’s the whole challenge of ‘what do we do with these asphalt shingles, what do we do with all these tires from cars across the country that are coming here to Massachusetts?'” Eldridge said. “There’s a whole market out there, and a whole lot of jobs out there in terms of recycled products.”
Approximately 250 million tires are discarded each year, said Paul Routhier, head of marketing and development for both Recycle America and Liberty Tire Recycling. According to Sean Anestis, CEO of Roof Top Recycling, only about 20 percent of the 250,000 to 350,000 tons of asphalt shingles discarded each year in Massachusetts are recycled.
By Alana Melanson