Road construction uses significant amounts of natural resources. Many such as gravel, aggregate, crushed rock and sand, have recycled alternatives. The use of recycled materials conserves natural resources and offsets environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions.
We try to reuse and recycle. Recycled materials are used in road construction if they meet our performance criteria.
Some of our recycling initiatives include:
- reusing soil from construction sites to avoid importing or exporting soil
- using recycled water in road construction and maintenance
- recycling rubber from discarded tyres and manufacturing by-products in bitumen products
- using recycled plastic for guideposts along roadsides
- reclaiming asphalt and waste concrete from roadworks for use in pavement mixes
We are trialling new concrete and asphalt products. Warm Asphalt Mix and eco-friendly concrete create less greenhouse emissions during manufacture. Currently the use of concrete and asphalt products represents over 70% of the energy associated with road construction.