The National Academy of Science (NAS) has released TRB Special Report 347: Recycled Plastics in Infrastructure: Current Practices, Understanding, and Opportunities, which emphasizes that the pursuit of plastics recycling in infrastructure depends on goals, policy, and economics, and that life cycle economic and environmental assessments should be conducted to inform policies on plastics waste reuse.

"It is in society’s economic and environmental interests to expand and standardize plastics waste collection, increase recycling, and explore new applications for plastics waste in infrastructure."

In the U.S., most plastics waste is disposed in landfills, but a significant amount also ends up as litter on land, rivers, and oceans. Today, less than 10 percent of plastics waste is recycled in the U.S. annually. The use of recycled plastics in infrastructure applications has potential to help expand the market and demand for plastics recycling. Possible uses include asphalt pavements, railroad ties, and utility poles.

Recycled plastics are an underutilized resource and action from the public sector at the federal, state, and local levels is needed to improve the plastics waste management system in the U.S. The report makes specific recommendations for how the U.S. EPA and DOT can promote and sustain a coordinated government response that includes assessments of economically and socially beneficial applications of plastics waste in infrastructure.  

The full publication is available for download