Use of Recycled Construction and Demolition Material in Road Construction Projects
The City of Canning is committed to sustainable operations waste management.
We also foster the development of innovative solutions for new road construction materials
Since 2008, and following a significant amount of research and testing, the City has been using recycled construction and demolition products extensively in its road construction projects.
The City is working with partners in the community, and with the Department of Environment Regulation, to continue to use these materials as a first preference for as long as the material is available.
Benefits in using the recycled materials include:
- Recycled product gains considerable strength with curing over time, and can be much stronger than conventional base materials
- Significant cost savings compared with traditional quarried materials
- Savings in transportation costs and associated greenhouse gas emissions
- Diversion of materials from landfill
- Use of materials that do not require extraction from the environment.
For more information on the use of recycled construction and demolition products, please view our frequently asked questions below, and refer to the following documents:
The City of Canning has always been at the forefront of using recycled road base materials in the construction of our new roads - in fact, we helped the industry develop in Western Australia more than a decade ago.
We first used this material in our own road pavements in 2011 for sections of Welshpool Road, and have been using it for the majority of our projects ever since.
Unique to many local and state government organisations, the City employs the use of recycled road base for both the sub-base layer and the top base-course layer of our road pavements.
A few of our largest projects include the Welshpool Road Dual Carriageway; Sevenoaks Dual Carriageway; the Southern Link Road project (behind Carousel Shopping Centre) and the Centenary Avenue widening project.
In recent years, the City has partnered with Boral to trial the Australian Company's more sustainable 'Innovo' road mix. More information can be found via the links below:
By reusing cut-off material from various previous projects to add to the Centenary Avenue widening project prior to stabilisation, the City reduced the bitumen content, significantly saving on the cost of additives. The new lane was also constructed using leftover profiles (road grindings waste) as the sub-base layer and cut-offs as the base-course layer, which has become the standard for road pavement construction for the City of Canning.
The City of Canning's resurfacing and road stabilisation programs yield more than 1,000 tonne of profilings and approximately 2,500 tonne of left over cut-offs (RAP) averaged over the past few years.
The City re-purposes these materials for use in new road construction, carparks and footpath foundations, as well the occasional hardstand (parking areas).
The savings in haulage and disposal fees would amount to approximately $70,000 every year.
In addition to this, by re-using our own materials instead of purchasing new sub-base and base-course materials or recycled concrete (which is half the price of standard road pavement materials) the City's savings in this area equate to approximately $50,000-$100,000 - depending on the program each year.
In 2019, the City of Canning took the reuse and re-purposing of recycled materials in road construction to a new level.
We believe that the Southern Link Road (Stage 2) may be the only road ever constructed in Australia with this degree of sustainability.
This involves the use of:
- Recycled concrete for the footpath
- Asphalt containing RAP (reclaimed asphalt pavement); crumbed rubber and polymers (recycled soft plastics)
- Recycled crushed glass as drainage aggregate
- Recycled screened sand for garden bed soil mix
- Re-purposed PVC pipe for subsoil drainage
- Recycled concrete, brick and tile for use as a road-base
- Recycled plastic bollards
- Recycled screened stone for drainage aggregate
- Ecoaid chambers for stormwater harvesting.