Brimbank City Council is continuing its sustainability journey, by incorporating recycled materials into its road reconstruction projects.
Contracts have been awarded, and contractors are set to begin work on three roads in the coming months, utilising a total of 1,680 tonnes of asphalt that includes TonerPlas (pictured below), a high-performance additive made from recycled soft plastics and recycled printer cartridges.
A total of 12.6 tonnes of TonerPlas will be used which includes almost 8 tonne of mixed post-consumer soft plastics equal to approximately 1.5 million plastic bags and also 43,600 recycled printer cartridges that are being diverted from landfill.
Brimbank has partnered with Australian company Close the Loop, inventors and manufacturers of TonerPlas to build better quality roads and recycle problematic soft plastics at the same time.
Council’s Director of Infrastructure and City Services Chris Leivers said “at Brimbank, we are always looking for ways to improve our sustainability and better care for the environment. The incorporation of recycled materials means less plastic ends up in landfill. A win-win for Council and the environment.”
Steve Morriss, Head of Circular Economy at Close the Loop said “transitioning to a circular economy is a collaborative effort. Without council buying products made from recycled content, there will be no recycling of this complex waste.”
Council will continue to explore building more roads using TonerPlas in the future.
