LONDON, Nov 11 (IranMania) - Cold recycling of asphalt and proper maintenance of roads will help lower costs in the bitumen and asphalt industries.

According to a research by Iran Asphalt and Bitumen Institute, cold recycling of asphalt will economize on production costs by 250%. Asghar Naderi, who heads the institute, told Iran Daily that over 60% of asphalt used in road construction can be recycled, stressing that cold recycling is the best technique as it has proven to be more economical and environmental-friendly.

"There are two types of recycling asphalt; cold and hot. However, cold recycling is the better option for Iran given the poor maintenance of roads, which renders hot recycling uneconomical," he said, adding that asphalt recycling technology has been in force in Iran for more than 10 years.

He said Iran spends some six trillion rials each year on asphalt production and implementation of relevant projects.

Experts contend that proper maintenance of roads could also contribute effectively to lowering costs. Poor maintenance of roads make developing economies spend billions of dollars in compensations for damages caused to vehicles by improper asphalt of roads.

The pressing need to conserve energy and minimized costs in highway construction requires that special efforts be made to identify and make the maximum use of procedures that will result in lowering energy usage and minimizing costs.

Recycling of asphalt pavements has the potential of being an effective way of conserving energy and materials and reducing costs.