Reducing the Road Construction Anthropogenic Impact by Using Ash and Slag from Thermal Power Plans: Economist’s View

Abstract

Industrial waste involvement in road construction projects is one of the most prospective areas for waste management industry development in Russia. The introduction and scaling up of this practice will simultaneously reduce the costs of both road construction and waste storage. In the article, the authors attempted to evaluate the economic potential of using industrial by-products (using the example of ash and slag waste) in the road construction industry as an embankment of a roadbed. As the result, it was revealed that the economic potential for utilizing ash and slag waste as a road embankment can be up to 7,9 million tons annually. At the same time, it will be economically feasible to involve ash and slag waste in road construction only if the ash dump is located at a distance of no more than 130–150 kilometer from the construction site. The study also discovers that depending on the ash dump and open pits with traditional resources location, the effect in reducing the building highways costs across the country can range from 104,70 million to 30 359,48 million rubles. The authors concluded that to reduce the anthropogenic impact of the road construction industry, the government should form a mechanism stimulating the use of industrial waste keeping technological capabilities and economic feasibility of the process. Based on foreign experience, the authors proposed to use the effective disposal radius mechanism, which preserves the principle of economic feasibility of using ash and slag waste in the road construction projects.