The equivalent of over 430,000 single-use plastic bags will soon be recycled with other products to create a new road surface material that will be applied to roads in Kingborough, a first for Tasmania.
“We are proud to announce that Kingborough will be the first council in Tasmania to introduce specialised products that use a variety of recycled materials such as soft plastics, toner from used printer cartridges and reclaimed road millings that would normally be destined for landfill,” Cr Wass said.
“Council staff continue to demonstrate leadership in sustainability and using recycled materials in our road surfaces is just one of the creative ways Council is reducing its environmental footprint,” Cr Wass continued, “By having active partnerships with progressive and environmentally conscious local governments and suppliers, we can continue to set new benchmarks in repurposing and recycling waste materials into new streams of use.”
The new products will provide longer road life and durability, proving to be a more cost effective option for Council, and will be used on a variety of locations across Kingborough in the coming months. Their key benefits include energy savings and carbon emission reductions.
The Toner Pave product, which is made from the waste of recycled printer and toner cartridges, has been used on roads in central Kingston recently. The cartridges are shredded and the toner powder is further refined to make an additive that replaces approximately 10 per cent of the bitumen content.
Kingborough Council already recycles the road millings removed from road surfaces, and this trial will use surfaces removed from roads across Tasmania. The sand in pavement is substituted with recycled glass and new pellet technology has been able to combine toner and plastic to create a binder that goes into the finished asphalt.