The recently released ‘Draft Specification for Supply of Recycled Material for Roads, Drainage and Fill’, has been developed in response to the need for an industry wide specification for the use of recycled materials in a range of public works.
It is all too common for Councils and practitioners to not be aware of the opportunities to use recycled materials, or to be reluctant to do so in the absence of an industry specification. The Draft Specification aims to encourage Local Government professionals and other key players within the public works engineering sector to use recycled concrete and brick materials. It will also ensure the recycled materials supplied by the materials processing industry are of the highest quality.
The Draft Specification has environmental benefits, such as lengthening landfill life; protecting stocks of natural resources; and helping to ensure development is ecologically sustainable. The use of recycled aggregate material can result in cost savings. This extends across a range of applications, including pavements for urban roads, bulk and general filling and backfilling for draining lines and drainage structures.
The development of the Draft Specification was jointly sponsored by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia, C & D Division of the Waste Management Association of Australia and Resource NSW.
The Draft Specification can be downloaded from the IPWEA website at www.ipwea.org.au/greenspec/ or for further information contact Tracey Gigg at IPWEA, on (02) 8267 3013.
