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As you well know, recycling is a prevalent, and easy-to-practice form of environmental stewardship.  Use it, recycle it, and re-use it… it’s as simple as that.

In today’s world, recycling bins for cans and bottles can be found in virtually every public space, paper recycling is a common household process, and even CFL bulbs are recyclable.

But do you know what the most recycled material in America is, and has been since the early 1990s?

It’s none other than… Asphalt!

According to the National Asphalt Pavement Association, approximately 99 percent of asphalt is recycled here in the U.S., weighing in at a hefty 62 million tons in 2010.

These are some impressive numbers indeed, and Associated Paving Contractors is proud to have been recycling asphalt since the ’90s when the process was still a fairly new concept.  Fortunately, many other paving contractors across the country have realized the environmental and cost benefits of recycling asphalt, and we hope that trend continues.

So the next time you drive down a road and look at the pavement, remember that you are part of one of the most successful recycling campaigns in history.

The road to perfecting asphalt has been a long and winding one.  With perhaps some speedbumps along the way.

An informative article from the National Asphalt Paving Association describes the history of a product that we take for granted in today’s world.  Indeed, we walk and ride on paved asphalt every day, and yet most of us probably never even think about how asphalt is made, where it came from, or why it’s the best option for road surfaces.  Well, correction, we here at APCON think about it!

In this article, many historical facts are brought to the surface, including:

• “The first recorded use of asphalt as a road building material was in Babylon around 625 B.C.”
• “Today (asphalt) covers more than 94 percent of the paved roads in the United States.”
• In 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh discovered a “lake of asphalt on the Island of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela.  He used this asphalt for re-caulking his ships.”
• “In 1870, a Belgium chemist named Edmund J. DeSmedt laid the first true asphalt pavement in (the U.S.), a sand mix in front of the City Hall in Newark, New Jersey”

Check out the article to learn more… and be sure to thank your asphalt for the great job it does day in and day out!

What would summer be without the excitement of kids going off to summer camp?This morning, APCON traffic cones were on the scene of departure day for the first session of Golden Slipper Camp, a non-profit, overnight camp that draws campers mostly from the Philadelphia area.

The bus departure was held in Elkins Park, approximately 2 hours south of the Poconos where Golden Slipper Camp is located.  Coach buses take the kids, who are aged from seven to 15-years-old, to and from camp to have the summer of their lives.

APCON is proud to support Golden Slipper Camp and we wish all the campers well this summer… have a happy, safe, and memorable time up in the mountains!

The online publication “Buildings” reported in May that a recent study from MIT showed that using stiffer pavement could potentially cut fuel consumption by 3% and save roughly $15 billion in gas prices per year in the US.  Plus, since the pavement would need to be made to be stiffer, it is likely to last longer, ultimately saving money in the long run rather than having to repave frequently.

In a nutshell, the reason for the reduction in fuel consumption is because the “softer” a pavement is, the more energy is needed to push the car ahead since the tires sink into the road more compared to a stiffer road.

We think this sounds like an intriguing study, and we will keep our eye on this development to see if new guidelines are set and if customers choose to go in this direction.

What do you think?  Your comments are welcome below…

As you may have heard in the news recently, the City of Philadelphia is embarking on an ambitious plan called “Green 2015,” which has the goal of adding 500 more acres of green space to the city’s footprint within the next three years. And no, this does not mean that the City will be going on an old-fashioned conquest to plunder land from neighboring towns by conquest like a Medieval land battle. Instead, it’s addition by subtraction.

Anybody who has driven through inner-city Philadelphia can attest to the “concrete jungle” feel of many neighborhoods—in fact a study shows that 200,000 Philadelphia residents don’t live within a half-mile of a park or green space, as quoted in a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article about the City’s green initiative.

To counter this, the City will be reclaiming large swaths of unused paved areas that can be found on vacant lots, in underused school playgrounds, and other such locations.

Breaking up these unused or underused paved areas provide many benefits, including:

• Green spaces generally improve property values since families like to have them in close proximity to their homes for kids to utilize
• Storm water inlets on streets can only handle so much water, whereas green spaces help absorb more water and enable it to filter it through the ground
• Local residents can potentially use the new green spaces to plant gardens to grow fresh fruits and vegetables, helping to save money from buying groceries and enabling families to eat more healthfully

All in all, even though APCON is in the paving business, we appreciate efforts to maximize the usage of current and prospective paved surfaces and eliminate unnecessary pavement since green spaces have great benefits to the community and environment. Kudos to the City of Philadelphia for recognizing the needs of its citizens by reclaiming unused pavement and we look forward to seeing the City’s pavement transformation over the next few years.

Posted in UncategorizedTagged green space, pavement, Philadelphia, storm water

Whoever said there’s no drama in asphalt paving?

Under beautiful sunny skies, APCON trucks could be seen this week crossing paths as they mill the asphalt off of a parking lot in Bordentown, NJ.

As the milling machines rip up the old, worn out pavement, they drop the chunks of millings into the dump truck in front, making way for new asphalt to be laid down afterwards. These millings can then be recycled for new asphalt pavement.

Milling machines are some of the coolest machines on the road, aren’t they?

Oh, and we have three of them here at APCON!