Recycled materials have the potential to contribute significantly to the circularity of roads in Australia.

The incorporation of certain recycled materials can increase the overall lifespan of a road, improve the resistance of road surfaces to cracking, reducing maintenance costs and traffic disruptions. The use of recycled materials in roads even has benefits for non-road users, with the addition of recycled crumb rubber, found to decrease traffic noise levels improving the quality of life for nearby residents.

One of the key targets of the Nation Waste Policy Action Plan is significantly increasing the use of recycled content by governments and industry. But as things stand, there has been very slow procurement uptake of recycled material content in roads around Australia despite the well-documented benefits. The recycling and resource recovery sector currently offers one of the biggest opportunities and technological advancements for road construction in many years – so why have governments and regulators hit the brakes?

Roads are one of the most integral pieces of infrastructure in every modern society. At the peak of the pandemic – and working from home – the 2021 Australian Census revealed that over 7.2 million Australian used our roads to get to work, either in a car, on the bus, or via ride-share. As our population increases, so too does our road use and need for new road infrastructure. And this figure is only increasing, with almost twice as many people driving themselves to work in 2021 (6,398,000) from 1981 (3,243,000).

As such an integral part of how we move and connect, it is astounding to consider that modern road construction has not changed much since the process was first developed by Scottish engineer John McAdam in the early 19th century. McAdam topped multi-layer roadbeds with a soil and crushed stone aggregate that was then packed down with heavy rollers to lock it all together. The last real technological leap came a century ago when tar was added as a binder to increase longevity and stability for emerging motor vehicles.

Conversely, the resource recovery and recycling sector has changed dramatically, evolving innovative new ways to reduce carbon emissions and incorporate recycled content into more products through advanced technologies and state-of-the-art applications. The sector continues to deliver significant social, economic and environmental value. Importantly, a report by Access Economics for the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts found that 9.2 jobs are created for every 10,000 tonnes of materials recycled, compared with only 2.8 jobs created for sending materials to landfill. When you consider that concrete and brick, glass, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), crumb rubber, toner cartridges, and even plastics can all be recycled into roadbase, the employment and circular economy opportunities of rethinking roads could be monumental.

While recycled and recovered content opportunities abound for roads, there are persistent barriers to uptake. While some are systemic and built-in cultural misconceptions around perceived risks, other barriers are more tangible. State government road authority procurement processes remain highly convoluted; in South Australia’s Department of Infrastructure and Transport alone, the procurement manual is 600 pages long.

For even the most conservative procurement official, there are ways to facilitate innovation and build confidence. If governments are not ready or are simply unable to commit due to their own regulations, significant recycled roadbase quota for major freeways, the creation of temporary roads which are put in place around the construction, may be used as test beds for innovative recycled materials – offering low-risk real-world trial opportunities.

There are pervasive inconsistencies in local and state specifications on recycled material content in roads. Significant discrepancies across jurisdictions in allowable limits of recycled content can lead to confusion and practical difficulties, fueling a reluctance to embrace recycled materials in road construction projects. A joint report from the Australian Council of Recycling and Standards Australia found that the allowable content of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) varies from 10% in Western Australia to 40% in New South Wales.

At the heart of these regulatory discrepancies is a lack of national leadership and a misalignment between environmental protection policies and circular economy principles. Not just a problem for roads, but a cultural undercurrent where recoverable resources are regulated as risk and pollution rather than prioritised as an economic opportunity and a necessary part of the circular economy supply chain.

Despite a lack of nationally consistent regulatory standards, some governments and local Councils have already embraced the benefits of using recycled materials in roads. Policies such as Victoria’s ‘Recycled First’ have proven to be an effective enabler for the procurement of recycled content for infrastructure projects, where there is an inbuilt requirement that all tenderers on major transport projects to demonstrate “how they will optimise the use of recycled and reused materials at the levels allowed under current standards and specifications”.

Products such as Reconophalt™ which incorporates recycled asphalt, plastic, glass and TonerPlas, go to great lengths to ensure they have every available commercial and technology edge to not only ensure outstanding quality, but also to overcome perception and regulatory barriers. Reconophalt was the first in the industry to take the product through full environmental compliance testing. This commitment to best practice gave the City of Adelaide the confidence to pursue a hundred per cent recycled asphalt mix for Chatham Street with Reconophalt – the first in Australia.

To build more circular road projects across Australia and contribute to a strong end market for recovered and recycled materials, it is vitally important that the Australian Government engages with key industry experts to modify existing and create new performance-based Australian Standards that harmonise the inconsistencies in existing specifications for recycled materials in our roads.

Recycled materials can provide better roads and long-lasting economic, environmental and social outcomes. Research shows that using recycled materials (plastic, tyre crumb, and glass) in just two major road projects per state, could consume almost 2.3 million tonnes of recyclables, bringing us closer to a circular economy and the goals of the National Waste Policy Action Plan.

Suzanne Toumbourou is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) the peak body for resource recovery, recycling and remanufacturing, committed to leading the transition to a circular economy through the recycling supply chain.

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