Effect of Waste Plastic Polyethylene Terephthalate on Properties of Asphalt Concrete Mixtures

Waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are found in considerable quantities in every country causing environmental problems if not recycled or disposed of properly. One possible solution is to utilize waste PET bottles in asphalt pavements. In this research, the wet-mixing method was used to add waste PET to asphalt binder (by volume) in five percentages (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%). Marshall, dynamic creep, and fatigue tests were performed on the asphalt concrete mixtures to assess their performance. With the addition of waste PET, the dynamic creep parameters improved, and the resilient modulus and creep stiffness reached their optimum values at a waste PET content of 10%. The fatigue test results showed an increase in pavement life of asphalt-waste PET mixtures compared to the unmodified mixtures. As a result, adding waste PET to asphalt cement can improve the performance of road pavement structures in addition to the environmental advantages.