Investigating the Effect of Polyethylene Terephthalate Recycled from Waste Plastics bottles on Asphalt Binder Under UAE’s Climate Conditions

A problem that emerges from the abundant use of plastic is the disposal of plastic wastes. In this paper, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic waste from water bottles was utilized to modify asphalt at two different dosages, 2% and 4%. The processed plastic waste was added to a 60/70 penetration grade asphalt binder. The neat and modified asphalt binders were tested for performance grade using the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR). The results provided by the DSR tests were used to simulate the performance of the plastic waste modified asphalt pavement using AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design software. To predict the field performance, two sections were proposed: a thin 3-inch section with light traffic and a thick 6-inch section with heavy traffic, both under Sharjah’s climate conditions. At 90% reliability, AASHTOWare simulation runs showed that the addition of 4% PET plastic increased the bottom-up fatigue resistance by 2.75 years in the 6-inch section. The 3-in pavement did not fail during the 20-year design life for permanent deformation but improved rut resistance. In the 6-inch pavement, the control binder had a service life of 8.92 years. The addition of 2% PET increased the service life due to permanent deformation by 1 year. However, the addition of 4% increased the service life by 8 years. The addition of plastics as an asphalt binder modifier may help solve plastic disposal problems and minimize the negative economic and environmental impact.