Recycling and Roads – Sustainability in practice

Shellharbour City Council is excited to announce that it is conducting a trial road resurfacing project that incorporates plastic, glass and other recycled waste materials into 4,600m2 of asphalt renewal. By substituting discarded waste materials for some quarried products, Council is adding recycled content into the road surface and in doing so supporting the waste Circular Economy.

Through this initiative plastics, glass and other discarded waste materials are being turned into durable, high strength road surfaces.

Shellharbour City Council Mayor, Marianne Saliba said “This initiative supports both Council and private industry transition to more sustainable practices and provides a real demonstration of Shellharbour City Council’s commitment to sustainability and the environment”.

“The asphalt product replaces virgin materials with recycled materials. This one road at Jarrah Way, Albion Park Rail will reuse approximately 210 tonnes of recycled materials that would have otherwise gone to landfill”.

Council will now monitor the performance of this road against comparable roads resurfaced with traditional asphalt across the local government area to help ascertain the longer term performance of the recycled pavement product.

Using recycled materials such as the Reconophalt product supplied by Downer to create new road surfaces is just one of the innovative ways that Shellharbour City Council has actively worked to reduce its environmental footprint. Shellharbour City Council was one of the first to divert food waste from landfill with the FOGO service implemented in 2016. Additionally, Council’s transfer station located at the Dunmore Waste and Resource Recovery Centre continues to accept around 30 different types of waste materials free of charge for residents.

Mayor Marianne Saliba says “Council’s continued commitment to waste innovation through such things as the FOGO system, free recycling opportunities at the Dunmore Waste and Resource Recovery Centre and the use of recycled asphalt continues to help grow the circular economy for the benefit of future generations and protects our environment”.

/Public Release. View in full here.