Current State of the Art Practice of Use of Glass in Pavement Structures

The ever increasing volume of waste materials, the shortage of landfill space and the limitation of
natural resources motivate researchers to find innovative ways for recycling and reusing materials
like waste glass. Using glass as an aggregate in the pavement structure is an innovative method of
recycling, and helps to reduce landfill. However, insufficient knowledge on mechanical and
geotechnical characteristics of recycled glass as an aggregate and the shortage of information
about the benefit of using it as the aggregate in unbound layers of pavement structures prevents
its widespread use. This paper reviews the previous work on the usage of recycled glass as an
aggregate in pavement structures. In this study, a critical review on the history and benefits of
using recycled glass in pavement structures is presented, followed by a review of general studies
on the use of recycled glass in pavement structures in order to improve the properties of
pavement. Also, different properties of recycled glass are compared based on past research.
Studies indicate that engineering properties of recycled glass are generally equal to or better than
those of most natural aggregates. Glass particles characteristics suggest that glass can be used for
many applications including base course, subbase, embankment, etc.