How Recycled Crushed Rock Products Provide Suitable and Sustainable Materials for Road works in Victoria

14 January 2020

Many remain unaware of the fact that roads and pavement materials consist mostly of crushed rock products. Such is the very case in the road works in Victoria. Through this, they have found an opportunity to utilise suitable and more sustainable materials incorporating recycled products. Below is how this certain initiative took place.

Victorian Government Utilised Recycled Crushed Rock Products

The Victorian Government has started this initiative because accessible sources are becoming limited even though the geology in Victoria provides high quality rock. The expansion in residential land and associated environmental constraints have hindered the extensions or construction of rock quarries which would now be very costly and time consuming to build. Therefore, it made the metropolitan or urban sources of quarried product finite. Transporting material across over long distances increases the carbon footprint of road construction and road wear.

In Victoria, there are steady supplies of recycled materials such as crushed concrete, newer basalt surface spalls (NBSS), reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and crushed brick. Using recycled materials contributes towards making non-renewable rock resources last longer.

Recycled Crushed Rock Products Tested Suitable for Road Works

A regulation body was incorporated so that they can be assured that the recycled crush rock products are of optimum quality. Crushed granular materials as shown in the above had to be registered. The registration of such material is a must before it can be used to build any of the roads. Asphalt mixes are registered under the Registration of Bituminous Mix Designs prior to use on any road works. All mix designs registered are issued according to the level of compliance with the code of practice.

Recycled Crushed Rock Products Were Proven Sustainable

Studies show that less than 10 percent of the plastic that has been produced since the 1950s has been recycled. Most of it ends up being dumped in a landfill. Some of the plastic is left to litter the natural environment, where it often ends up in rivers and getting washed out in the sea. Recycling a certain amount of plastic can be used as an alternative to bitumen which is used for road building. Both of them are polymers which consist of long strands of molecules bound together firmly. This characteristic of plastic makes it stronger and last longer. These features are particularly useful for road builders. Not only did it utilise the recycled crushed rock products. It also recycled several units of plastic in the process.

To learn additional facts about the recycling crushed rock products, consult with EcoCrush. Our recycling plant produces top-quality products from recycled crushed rock for use in the construction and building industries. Also, we provide a free tipping facility that is conveniently located at the back of Smart Recycling in Dandenong South. No load is too small or too large for us to handle. We believe in all of us working together to help our environment through recycling concrete.