Asphalt containing a range of recycled material has been used for a one-kilometre stretch of road as part of the Craigieburn Road Upgrade in Melbourne’s southeast.
Works have wrapped up on the first section of the project, which used more than 3500 tonnes of Reconophalt, which contains a binder made from soft plastics and ink toner residue as well as glass and recycled asphalt.
The equivalent of around 800,000 plastic bags, 250,000 crushed bottles not suitable for remanufacture, and more than 18,000 old toner cartridges were used for the section of road at the Mickleham Road and Craigieburn Road intersection.
The product, supplied and laid by Australian company Downer, has previously been used on past Victoria’s Big Build projects, such as the M80 Upgrade and Western Roads Upgrade. It is claimed to offer greater durability than traditional forms of asphalt, and is also recyclable at the end of its useful life.
The Craigieburn Road Upgrade team plans to use Reconophalt extensively along the project alignment in the coming months. It is also transporting construction waste to recycling facilities for processing and remanufacture.
The integration of recycled and reused content for sustainable construction practices is the focus of the Victorian Government’s Recycled First Policy, delivered by its ecologiQ initiative.
ecologiQ is holding its inaugural Greener Infrastructure Conference in September to enable conversation and action towards increasing the use of recycled materials in transport infrastructure and broader construction sectors.
The conference will be held on 6-7 September at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
For more information on the ecologiQ conference, visit: bigbuild.vic.gov.au
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