Environment Impact
Asphalt is a type of pavement that provides an excellent surface for roads and parking lots. It can be laid down in sheets, or it can be shaped into pavers to provide a beautiful and durable finish. Asphalt has been around since the early 1900s, but what many people don’t know about asphalt is its environmental impact. Parking Lot Sealcoating experts will cover how asphalt repair impacts the environment and what equipment is used during this process.
The first thing to consider is the manufacture of asphalt. The ingredients used to make asphalt are not environmentally friendly. They include coal tar, which contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and oil, both of which can be harmful to the environment. PAHs are a group of chemicals that are known to cause cancer in humans. They also contribute to smog formation and can be toxic to aquatic life.
Oil is a non-renewable resource and when it’s burned, it releases pollutants into the air like carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. These pollutants contribute to climate change and respiratory problems, especially in people with asthma or other respiratory conditions.
In addition to the negative environmental impacts of manufacturing asphalt, there are also some concerns about the asphalt itself. It’s made of aggregates, which are crushed stone or gravel particles mixed with hot liquid bitumen (a dark viscous material that is a mixture of hydrocarbons). The use of heavy machinery during installation can cause water pollution by dislodging sediments in nearby bodies of water.
Asphalt also contains carcinogens like arsenic and benzene at very high levels, depending on where it was produced and what materials were used to produce it. These substances have been linked to health problems such as skin cancer and leukemia when they’re inhaled or ingested over a long period time. Ingestion includes eating contaminated fish from lakes containing runoff from roads built with asphalt pavement.
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