Hundreds of thousands of recycled glass bottles incorporated into the asphalt for major South Australian roadworks
Reccyled glass was incorporated into the asphalt for major South Australian road projects such as the Main South Road and Victor Harbor Road duplications (at left), for making roads stronger over the River Torrens to Darlington (T2D) motorway project that included twin tunnels (top right) and in rubble for the Ovingham level crossing removal project.
Impres courtesy South Australian government, CPB Contractors and PTP Alliance
Hundreds of thousands of recycled glass bottles were diverted from landfill to form sustainably-sourced asphalt as part of major South Australian roadworks in the 2020s.
More than 797,000 recycled glass bottles were used in the Adelaide’s South Road rehabilitation works between Glengarry Avenue, Glandore, and English Avenue, Clovelly Park.
The works by the Downer company were part of a $26 million project to create a stronger road surface along six kilometres of South Road before major works started on the $15.4 billion River Torrens to Darlington (T2D) motorway project that included twin tunnels. Nearly 4,000 tonnes of recycled asphalt pavement started the works. The asphalt contained 2.5% recycled crushed glass in the wearing course and 10% recycled crushed glass in the intermediate and base layers.
The sustainable asphalt saved the equivalent of 192 tonnes of carbon dioxide and the equivalent of 78 cars off the road for one year. The glass was sourced from local recycling depots that took items from local councils.
Recycled glass from wine bottles was used by CPB Contractors duplicating Main South Road and Victor Harbor Road for the South Australian government as part of the Fleurieu Connections Alliance with the infrastructure and transport department, Aurecon and GHD.
Duplicating Main South Road involved about 10 kilometres from south of Griffiths Road, Seaford to Aldinga. Victor Harbor Road work duplicated about five kilometres between Main South Road, Old Noarlunga and Main Road, McLaren Vale. Ten per cent of the asphalt used on the new lanes comprised recycled wine bottles. This was the equivalent of 459 wine bottles in every tonne of recycled asphalt in the base layer and 115 bottles in every tonne of the top layer.
In 2022, the PTP Alliance used a rubble, including 10% recycled crushed glass, as a subbase layer to construct roads on the Ovingham level crossing removal project. This made use of contaminated glass, or glass too small to be recycled back into glass products, that would otherwise end up in landfill.
The state government infrastructure and transport department, ResourceCo, suburban cities of Charles Sturt and Prospect and the PTP Alliance, worked together get the 10% recycled crushed class as a subbase layer of the road design. It diverted more 18.5 tonnes of waste glass from landfill.
