Existing road becomes the raw material
Cold recycling asphalt is a road reconstruction method that reuses the existing pavement as its own structural material. A single machine reclaims the failed road, blends the reclaimed material with a binding agent, and lays it back as the new base. Everything happens on site, in place, at ambient temperature.
Stockpiled millings and surplus asphalt waste feed the same process. Instead of hauling waste to landfill and virgin aggregate out of a quarry, cold mixing turns abandoned material into fresh pavement without ever firing a plant. No hot mix. No warm mix. No stack.
The first carbon methodology for road construction
Registered with Verra in 2019 under the Verified Carbon Standard, VM0039: Methodology for Foam Stabilized Base and Emulsion Asphalt Mixtures in Pavement Application is the world's first carbon methodology built for road rehabilitation. It measures the emissions savings achieved when cold recycling asphalt methods replace conventional hot and warm mix asphalt (HMA/WMA).
Designed for pavement rehabilitation, the methodology provides a third-party validated framework for quantifying carbon reductions and issuing verified carbon credits from sustainable road construction.
How cold recycling works
Every stage happens on-site using the existing pavement as the primary material. By eliminating quarrying, plant heating, and long-distance hauling, cold recycling delivers a faster, lower-carbon approach to road rehabilitation.
Failed Roads Qualify
Cold recycling is a reconstruction method, not a maintenance treatment. The road must have reached the end of its structural life, where resurfacing and repair are no longer effective solutions.
Mill and Remove Aged Asphalt
A cold recycler pulverizes the existing asphalt and base layers into loose material in a single pass. The failed road becomes the raw material for the new one, processed entirely on site.
Material Processed
The pulverized material is processed into a uniform, size and engineered mix.
Rejuvenated and Remixed
A binding and rejuvenating agent is introduced into the reclaimed material, reactivating the old binder and transforming it into a structurally stable base layer without heat.
Compacted and Installed
The finished cold mix is laid directly behind the recycling train and compacted by a roller close behind. Traffic reopens within hours. About one lane-mile per 10-hour workday, two to three times the rate of conventional repaving.
Road Failure
Cold recycling is a reconstruction method, not a maintenance treatment. The road must have reached the end of its structural life, where resurfacing and repair are no longer effective solutions.
Reclaim Existing Road
A cold recycler pulverizes the existing asphalt and base layers into loose material in a single pass. The failed road becomes the raw material for the new one, processed entirely on site.
Material Processed
The pulverized material is processed into a uniform, engineered mix. This becomes the structural base of the reconstructed road, with no new aggregate required.
Pavement is Rebound
A binding agent is introduced into the reclaimed material, transforming it into a structurally stable base layer.
Lay in Place
The reconstituted material is placed back as a structural base layer in the same pass.
Compact & Open
The road is compacted, cured, and reopened to traffic. The finished pavement is structurally equivalent in performance to convential methods.
Cold In-Place Recycling
An equipment train mills, rejuvenates, and remixes the existing road surface in a single continuous pass without heat. By reusing the pavement already in place, the road itself becomes the primary construction material, dramatically reducing trucking, fuel use, and emissions.
Cold Central Plant Recycling
Reclaimed asphalt pavement, including stockpiled material, is processed at a central plant with rejuvenating agents to produce a high quality cold mix. This approach gives new life to existing materials that would otherwise be discarded, reducing waste while conserving natural resources.
Full Depth Reclamation
When deterioration extends beyond the surface, Full Depth Reclamation rebuilds the entire pavement structure into a single stabilised layer. Surface, base, and subbase materials are recycled in place, eliminating excavation and material haulage while delivering the greatest environmental and cost savings for heavily damaged roads.
Cold recycling vs. Conventional Methods
Compare conventional hot mix asphalt rehabilitation with ClimatePave's verified cold recycling methodology. By eliminating plant heating, reducing hauling, and reusing the existing pavement, VM0039 delivers lower emissions, lower costs, and longer-lasting infrastructure.
60%
Lower Emissions Per Project
90%
Old Asphalt
Reused vs. 25% HMA/WMA threshold
400+
Fewer Haul Trips Per Lane-Mile
28-50%
Cost
Savings for road agency
2-3×
Faster
Construction at over 1 mile a day production
Eight Co-Benefits Grounded in Field Data
Every project delivers measurable outcomes beyond carbon reduction. These co-benefits are monitored, quantified, and reported under the VM0039 methodology, demonstrating how cold recycling creates environmental, economic, and community value with every mile rehabilitated.
01
Circularity
Cold recycling reuses up to 90% of the existing road in place, compared with the 20 to 25% typically recovered through conventional methods. This reduces demand for virgin aggregate and asphalt binder while diverting millions of tonnes of material from landfill.
O2
Emission Reductions
Eliminating high-temperature asphalt production and reducing haulage cuts project emissions by up to 60%. Every reduction is measured using field data and independently verified under VM0039.
03
Air Quality
Removing the need for asphalt plants significantly reduces combustion emissions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other pollutants associated with traditional paving operations, helping improve air quality around production sites and transport routes.
04
Reduced Pollution
Cold recycling avoids many of the pollutants generated during conventional asphalt production, including silica dust, diesel particulate matter, and hazardous solvent emissions, creating cleaner and healthier environments for surrounding communities.
05
Community Health
Asphalt production facilities are often located close to disadvantaged communities. By reducing reliance on asphalt plants and heavy haulage, cold recycling helps lower local exposure to industrial emissions and transport-related pollution.
06
Traffic & Safety
Processing materials directly on-site eliminates hundreds of truck movements per lane-mile, reducing congestion, improving road user safety, lowering noise levels, and allowing projects to be completed up to three times faster than conventional methods.
07
Cost Savings
Reusing existing materials reduces construction costs by 28 to 50%, helping transportation agencies extend budgets further while delivering long-lasting infrastructure improvements.
08
Preserved Structure
Rather than placing a new surface over deteriorated pavement, cold recycling rebuilds the structural foundation of the road. This extends pavement life, reduces future maintenance, and lowers the long-term environmental and financial cost of repeated interventions.
Why the Reductions Are Additional and Verified
Financial Additionality
Cold recycling competes against established HMA contractors who benefit from the status quo. A cold-recycling train costs roughly $6M, with additional operator training costs. Conventional HMA repaving yields an IRR above 34%, while investing in cold recycling reduces it to approximately 12.6%. Carbon finance closes that gap. Formal investment analysis under the UNFCCC CDM framework is available as a supporting attachment.
Common Practice
According to the NAPA 2023 survey, HMA and WMA account for ~98.5% of all US asphalt production. Cold in-place recycling (CIR) represents less than 0.4% of the market; FDR just over 1%. These technologies have been commercially available for decades yet adoption has not grown meaningfully, reflecting persistent structural barriers.
Regulatory Additionality
Cold recycling is not legally mandated by any federal, state, or local requirement applicable to the project sites. FSB and emulsion use remain discretionary engineering choices, not code-required practices.
Reversal Risk
Physical reversal risk is effectively zero. The reduction occurs at the point of production by avoiding fuel combustion and virgin-material processing. There is no carbon stock that can be re-released. No buffer pool or post-crediting monitoring for permanence is required.
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