Greener Roads for Moreton Bay

December 17, 2019

Moreton Bay Regional Council is building greener roads that last longer by resurfacing its streets with a new high-quality asphalt that incorporates recycled plastic milk and shampoo bottles and recycled pavement.

The Council is working with leading recycler Alex Fraser and Suncoast Asphalt to resurface six Caboolture streets with Green Roads PolyPave™; an innovative, high-performance asphalt product containing reclaimed plastics.

Moreton Bay Regional Councillor for Division 2 Peter Flannery said this project demonstrates Council’s commitment to sustainability and innovation.

“This kind of initiative is literally helping us pave the way to a greener future,” he said.

“This project will see around 1400 wheelie bins worth of waste reused in our roads, including 112 tonnes of reclaimed asphalt and about 14,000 hard plastic bottles, such as milk and shampoo bottles.”

“We are always looking for ways to reuse and recycle. This initiative allows us to do that while delivering on core projects like road maintenance – it is a real win/win that will reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill,” said Cr Flannery.

Alex Fraser and Suncoast Asphalt General Manager Brendan Camilleri said that this is a great example of how local government can use recycling to build and maintain their cities and reduce their environmental impact.

“By incorporating reclaimed asphalt and hard plastics into the asphalt we can achieve some great quality improvements. PolyPave™ asphalt improves durability, tensile strength, rut resistance and ensures longer lifetime for the road. By going green, Moreton Bay has gained long term cost savings for their community,” Mr Camilleri said.

“The carbon savings are enormous, with the process producing 43 per cent less CO2 emissions compared with conventional asphalt,” he said. “This project alone has saved more than 770 kilograms in carbon emissions. The addition of other recycled ingredients, such as reclaimed asphalt pavement, along with our energy-saving production methods further increases CO2 savings.”

“By using Green Roads PolyPave™ Moreton Bay is building greener roads that reduce carbon emissions, landfill, and costs.”

“It is a great example of how government, industry and community are working together to achieve a circular economy,” he said.

The initial resurfacing project includes George Bass Ct, Lady Nelson Ct, Nanbaree Ave, Chappell Ct, Macquarie Ct, and Boongaree Ave.

ENVIRONMENTAL SAVINGS (per street):