Randwick Council trialling recycled glass asphalt mix in local roads

Published Date
30/01/2020
News Topic
Upgrades & Improvements
asphalt

Roads in Randwick City are being paved with asphalt containing crushed recycled glass as part of an innovative trial to find practical uses for recycled products.

Randwick City Mayor Danny Said announced that Council is trialling the recycled glass asphalt mix on streets in Randwick and Maroubra incorporating crushed glass from an estimated 224,000 recycled glass bottles.

“Randwick City Council has for many years shown leadership in sustainability. This trial provides us another opportunity to realise the benefits of recycling in our operations,” explained Mayor Said.

“Each year we spend approximately $2.5M repairing, upgrading and resheeting sections of our local road network.

“Three trial roads in Randwick and Maroubra have recently been paved containing the recycled glass content. This asphalt uses recycled glass bottles taken from residential recycling bins which are then crushed into a fine powder and used as a sand replacement in the asphalt.

“To date, the feedback we have received is positive with the glass component performing well in local roads with comparable wear, lifespan and flexibility to non-recycled asphalt.

“Every year, Council collects 10,000 tonnes of recycled material in our local area.  With the recycling crisis currently facing NSW, I’m hopeful that this type of progressive reuse of recycled material can be expanded to other material such as plastics for use in future road projects,” commented Mayor Said.

Downer’s General Manager – Pavements, Stuart Billing, said the innovative trial demonstrates the importance of partnerships with other thought leaders to create economic, social and environmental value for products that would more than likely end up in landfill, stockpiled, or as a pollutant in our natural environments.

“Together with Randwick Council we are creating new avenues to recycle and repurpose waste materials into new streams of use and reducing the community’s reliance upon increasingly scarce virgin materials.

“Further to the initial benefits of repurposing recycled materials in asphalt, Downer has the capability to perpetually recycle these pavements into the future, providing a truly sustainable solution,” said Mr Billing.

The three recycled glass road projects have been paved on Evans Street in Randwick (between Govett St and Darley Rd), Maroubra Rd in Maroubra (between Malabar Rd and The Causeway) and Carter Lane in Randwick.

Last Updated: 1 March 2022
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