Richmond roads paved with plastic and glass

Alex Fraser Group, a provider of sustainable construction materials, was recently engaged by the City of Yarra to undertake some road resurfacing utilising its Green Roads PolyPave material — a high-performance asphalt product containing recycled materials, including plastic and glass.

Alex Fraser is responsible for diverting more than 3.5 million tonnes of waste from landfill every year to manufacture the sustainable construction materials needed to build greener roads. The company’s PolyPave asphalt incorporates recycled high-density polyethylene plastic, which provides several benefits including:

• increased fatigue life;
• improved asphalt rut resistance;
• increased asphalt modulus/stiffness;
• increased wet tensile strength;
• a reduction in asphalt mix flow and creep;
• lessened ultraviolet radiation damage;
• less sensitivity to increased pavement temperature;
• a reduction in plastic to landfill and ocean ecosystems.
   

Roads in Stanley and Margaret Streets, Richmond, were repaved with PolyPave, containing recycled glass, asphalt and HDPE plastic (hard plastic/bottles), amounting to almost 100 tonnes of recycled waste. Approximately 7300 plastic bottles and 55,000 glass bottles were repurposed — equivalent to 1500 wheelie bins of waste glass and plastic, or the annual kerbside recycling collection for every household in Stanley Street.

Brendan Camilleri, General Manager Asphalt; Peter Lazarus, AFG Technical Manager; and Nathan Delaney, Asphalt Project Engineer.

The trial project reduced landfill by 97.3 tonnes and carbon emissions by 633 kg. The City of Yarra has since engaged Alex Fraser to repair and repave several more streets in the coming weeks, calling for an additional 1000 tonnes of the sustainable asphalt and saving another 25,000 plastic bottles from entering landfill.

“The City of Yarra’s progressive approach to the use of sustainable material is an excellent illustration of how local councils can proactively re-use the waste generated in their communities to build and maintain their cities while reducing the carbon footprint of their projects by up to 65%,” said Alex Fraser Managing Director Peter Murphy.

Mayor Daniel Nguyen said the City of Yarra has worked with Alex Fraser for many years to incorporate sustainable materials like glass, recycled concrete and brinl into its roadworks. “As a council with a strong focus on sustainability,” he said, “we are excited about using recycled plastics in our latest roadworks for the wide range of environmental benefits it delivers.”