In prior years, Colas Solutions would organize the National Technical Meeting to bring many of the U.S. technical and operations staff together to learn about advancements in new products and applied research related to hot mix asphalt (HMA), recycling, process, liquid binder, and emulsions.

As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, hosting this type of meeting in person was not an option. However, with the value this meeting provides to its attendees, it was still important to find a way to collaborate.

On February 23, 2021, Colas Solutions utilized Microsoft Teams to provide a technical presentation to over 75 technical Colas representatives from the U.S. and Canada. Despite this being the first type of virtual presentation format attempted by Colas Solutions, participants were engaged and the meeting was a success.

During the webinar, presentations covered the history of using recycled low-density polyethylene (rPE) to modify the bitumen in the wet process, as well as the use of rPE in the dry process at the HMA plant,
where it is treated as an aggregate. The rPE influence on bitumen, mix design methodology, performance testing, plant production, and paving results were also discussed during the webinar.

Due to the success of this first virtual presentation, Colas Solutions hosted another webinar session, which covered High Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Content (RAP) in HMA in March 2021.