Latrobe City Council trials recycled glass in road resurfacing program
Product |
14mm Type H asphalt and 20mm Type SI asphalt. |
Product name and supplier |
Gippsland Asphalt and DASMA recycling. |
Recycled material/s contained in product |
Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and glass. |
Percentage of recycled material in product |
10% RAP 12.5% glass. |
Total amount of recycled materials used |
25 tonnes of recycled glass in the 14mm Type H asphalt (wearing course). 47 tonnes of RAP in the 20mm Type SI asphalt (pavement). |
Product specifications and standards |
The product meets VicRoads standard 407. |
Location |
Intersection of Seymour Street and Franklin Street in Traralgon, selected due to high traffic volumes. |
Project background
This is the Latrobe City Council’s first large scale trial using recycled glass products in asphalt for their road resurfacing program. Historically, the program has used 100% virgin materials like sand and aggregate including crushed rock and stone. The glass in the mix which was collected from local kerbside collections directly replaces the use of virgin sand.
The introduction of Gippsland Asphalt’s new asphalt plant has made the trial possible and enabled more recycled materials to be used locally. Gippsland Asphalt approached Latrobe City Council in 2020 to trial asphalt containing locally sourced recycled glass.
Use of this material in future projects will increase Council's commitment to environmental sustainability through the use of recycled products, establishing Latrobe City as a leader in the area within the wider region. In addition, it will encourage council officers and local suppliers, including other asphalt contractors to consider using recycled materials in their projects.
Sustainability Victoria supported this project through the Sustainable Infrastructure Fund on behalf of the Victorian Government. The funding enabled the recycled materials to be tested as an asphalt mix in the lab prior to implementation.
Installation and product performance
It's the first-time recycled glass has been used in road surfacing in the municipality. The contractor did not experience any major difference when laying this asphalt compared to conventional asphalt, noting that there was a slight difference in how the product compacted during the drum rolling.
During the planning phase the total amount of asphalt was miscalculated which resulted in the percentage of glass being reduced from the initial specification of 15% to 12.5%. This did not affect the total amount of recycled glass used which was 25 tonnes.
The project involved the removal of the surface and 100mm of underlying pavement. It replaced that pavement with a structural asphalt containing 10% Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) (sourced from within the municipality) along with a wearing course containing 12.5% recycled glass.
“Trialling recycled glass in asphalt has been a wonderful success. Applying it to a heavy use site in Traralgon has demonstrated just how capable the product is. We hope to see this concept used more readily across other projects and would like to thank the Victorian Government for their support in the project.”
Benefits of using recycled glass
Glass is a valuable resource that can be recycled an infinite number of times, creating an endless and sustainable loop of glass products. The glass in the asphalt mix is directly replacing the use of virgin sand, which when mined can be highly destructive to the environment.
Over 76,000 glass bottles and jars from local kerbside recycling services have been used in this mix, reducing reliance on our finite resources.
Learn more about glass recycling.
Procurement information
DASMA, the contractor responsible for processing all of Latrobe City Council’s mixed recycling supplied the recycled glass.
The crushing process closes the loop on recycled glass, allowing it to be cycled back into the community and used in infrastructure projects.
Gippsland Asphalt, the lead contractor and DASMA worked closely together to refine the processing and production of the glass mix to obtain the suitable standard for the application. A test section of asphalt was laid at the Gippsland Asphalt facility for testing prior to installation.
"Project officers collaborated with the council's procurement team to secure an exemption from procurement policy to purchase from Gippsland Asphalt, being the only supplier of asphalt made from locally sourced recycled materials.”
Obtaining additional funding through the Sustainable Infrastructure Fund made trialling this project more attractive for Latrobe City.
Life-cycle monitoring and maintenance
The surface will be monitored quarterly for cracking, shoving or defects, none of which have been observed to date. The surface has a sparkle in sunlight, and a pleasant sheen from headlights at night.
The success of this project boosted the council’s confidence to procure recycled materials and they have since completed additional projects using recycled materials. Upcoming asphalt works will be tendered, with the opportunity for suppliers to present proposals for sustainable products, which will be given strong consideration over the use of virgin materials. Despite these materials sometimes costing more to purchase at this stage, Latrobe City Council recognises the value in investing in sustainable materials and is focused on strengthening its circular economy.
The contractor gained valuable experience in the process of producing and refining the glass content to the required specification in the asphalt mix for future projects.
Community feedback has been largely positive with regards to using recycled glass in the mix, including other sustainability focussed organisations and surrounding councils.
Gallery
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Buy Recycled Traralgon Road Resurfacing Video
Presented by:Eric Robinson, Senior Roads Engineer, Latrobe City Council
Daniel Parise, General Manager, Fowlers Asphalting
[The visuals during this video are of each speaker speaking to camera and vision in and around asphalt business, workers working on site and recycling materials, roads that have been resurfaced]
§(Music Playing)§
Eric Robinson:
So we completed an asphalt overlay here at the intersection of Franklin and Seymour Streets in Traralgon. We used 20% recycled asphalt products in the base course and 12% recycled glass in the asphalt mix and replaced some of the sand particles [0:00:16] and that are usually virgin materials that come from the quarry.
This project cost $260,000. We got 50% funding through Sustainable Infrastructure Fund. So we got $130,000 from Sustainability Victoria and then the other $130,000 was supplied by council.
The recycling contractor that we use had an excess of glass so they went to the asphalt contractor and said ‘Hey have you got a use for it’ and the asphalt contractor came to us and said ‘We’ve got something we’d like to try. Have you got somewhere you think we could use it?’ And we said ‘Sure’.
Daniel Parise:
Eric offered or Latrobe City offered up a project in order for us to do some trials. We did a series of testing in the background and on this specific project we used a glass to essentially replace the sand component within the asphalt. So we pretty much did a straight sand/glass replacement and I believe we used around 20 to 26 tonne of glass which is a hell of a lot of glass out of landfill.
Eric Robinson:
The glass for this project came from Dasma Recycling who are recycling contractors. So the glass is from Latrobe City itself.
Daniel Parise:
We are trying to ensure that we keep our glass supply coming from this region so we’ve got somewhat of a road to road or kerb to kerb type scenario keeping the sustainable loop. People are doing the right thing and recycling their glass appropriately allowing companies like Dasma and Tambo to recycle it and then put it back into road pavement which asphalt is a very good driver of that as an end product.
And from doing this specific project with 12.5% to 15% glass we’re in a position now to put upwards of 30% recycled products into the roads and it’s been very positively received from councils.
Eric Robinson:
We’ve used glass more recently this year in another car park and we’ve used recycled asphalt in probably the majority of our projects we’ve done since then as well.
Daniel Parise:
It’s quite exciting to be part of and deliver these sustainable products back into the network. Even down to the people on the ground delivering it have a sense of feel good I guess when you’re doing these projects.
Eric Robinson:
It’s good just environmentally. There’s a lot of excess materials and so if we can find a use for that material it just benefits everybody.
[Closing visual of slide with text saying ‘Sustainability Victoria’, ‘Victoria State Government’, ‘sustainability.vic.gov.au’, ‘Authorised by Sustainability Victoria, 321 Exhibition St, Melbourne’]
[End of Transcript]
More information
For more information about this project, email sustainableprocurement@sustainability.vic.gov.au.