Brisbane City Council’s New Specification for Greener Roads

December 13, 2018

When it comes to the use of recycled materials, road building specifications differ from state to state, significantly affecting the uptake of sustainable alternatives.

From Alex Fraser’s perspective this is most evident in Queensland some councils’ specifications have only recently being changed to support the use of recycled materials. A recent update of Brisbane City Council’s road building specification is expected to result in greener roads throughout the municipality.

Queensland State Manager Andrew Hooper said Brisbane City Council (BCC) were an early adopter of recycled material and Alex Fraser had been working with BCC and its contractors for almost 22 years.

“We’ve proudly supplied BCC’s contractors for many years; primarily with recycled material (RM003 and RM005) for the sub base and lower base. Since 1996, council owned assets including roads, carparks and drainage have been built using recycled and are still performing well.

“It’s great to see BCC leading the way, to allow for more extensive use of sustainable materials,” he said. The newly amended specification now aligns BCC with the Queensland Main Road and Transport Specification (QMRTS), which was also updated in June; clearly eliminating all past exclusions of the use of recycled materials.

Alex Fraser Queensland Key Account Manager Brian Douglas said he was already seeing a shift in the market.

“The updated BCC Standard (S300) helps contractors to make more sustainable choices when it comes to material selection, for every level of the road base. Proactive contractors like CCA Winslow are now open to invest in a broader range of recycled materials for their BCC projects, including RM001 for the top course,” said Brian.

A project in Willawong by CCA Winslow has called for more the 7500 tonnes of recycled materials, including 6000 tonnes of RM001 for the top course of the road base.

CCA Winslow Project Manager Chris Nicholls said the combination of environmental benefits, density and cost savings made Alex Fraser’s recycled products a smarter choice for them.

“The quality of these recycled products, in terms of consistency and ease of compaction, is excellent,” said Chris.

“That, along with great customer service and the confidence that we can rely on Alex Fraser to deliver on time, is why we made the choice.

“It’s great to know that all the waste concrete from our jobs can go to Alex Fraser, rather than landfill; only to come back to us as quality materials for our next project. By choosing Alex Fraser’s recycled products on the Willawong project we’ve made cost savings of around 15 per cent, and carbon savings of 65 per cent,” Chris explained.