European National Road Authorities and Circular Economy: An Insight into Their Approaches

Konstantinos Mantalovas, Gaetano Di Mino, Ana Jimenez Del Barco Carrion, Elisabeth Keijzer, Björn Kalman, Tony Parry and Davide Lo Presti
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Konstantinos Mantalovas: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Gaetano Di Mino: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Ana Jimenez Del Barco Carrion: Department of Construction Engineering and Engineering Projects, University of Granada, 18003 Granada, Spain
Elisabeth Keijzer: Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Björn Kalman: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), 58330 Linkoping, Sweden
Tony Parry: Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Davide Lo Presti: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-19

Abstract: The pavement engineering industry, having realized the significance of the impacts that it imposes on the environment through the production, construction and management of its products and assets, has been driven towards a more sustainable and circular way of operating. This has partly been through asphalt recycling, which is an area that many road authorities have prioritized. However, not all the National Road Authorities (NRAs) and/or sector stakeholders seem to be adequately familiar with the Circular Economy (CE) concept. This paper attempts to assist the transition of NRAs to a more circular way of doing business, by analyzing the current situation of CE within national/regional authorities and NRAs. To do so, a questionnaire was sent to different NRAs and an online search was conducted to identify the ways that NRAs communicate their CE practices. Findings indicate that, although the majority of the NRAs are familiar with CE as a concept, not many actions have been taken so far towards its holistic implementation. Finally, there is a significant lack of CE expertise and communication within these bodies.

Keywords: circular economy; asphalt pavements; National Road Authorities; circular procurement; circular recommendations; circular road maps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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