Austroads, a collective of Australian and New Zealand transport agencies, has published a new edition of its Guide to Pavement Technology Part 4: Recycled Materials.
The publication presents updated information on the use of waste material in roads, and provides a high-level approach to determining the suitability of recycled materials for construction and maintenance of road pavements and surfacing.
It explores the current use of reclaimed asphalt pavements, crumb rubber, industrial slag, recycled crushed glass, construction and demolition waste, and other recycled materials in pavement construction.
It also focuses on the performance impacts, national and global standards and specifications, potential environmental and health and safety risks, as well as the economic and societal impacts of recycled material use.
Ross Guppy, Austroads Transport Infrastructure Program Manager, said transport agencies and the road construction industry have a long history of incorporating recycled materials into road infrastructure.
“The new guide covers the advancement in material re-use that has occurred in the 13 years since the previous version was published,” he said.
The guide also provides a new holistic framework based on the principle that recycled material in road construction should not worsen the overall environmental, health and safety, engineering performance or road user outcomes compared with conventional methods.
“Roads should not be viewed as alternative avenues for waste disposal,” Guppy said. “As materials evolve and are increasingly considered for use in roads, industry bodies need the ability and knowledge to determine whether a material is suitable for reuse as a pavement ingredient.
“It is critical that care is taken to ensure that a due diligence approach is followed when trialling new materials. This framework improves confidence in the uptake of recyclables through mitigation of risk and uncertainty to deliver higher quality assets.”
Austroads will be holding a free webinar on Thursday 18 August 2022 to outline the key updates to the guide.
To register for the webinar, click here.
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