Rockhampton’s road to recycling success

Roads in the Rockhampton Region will be increasingly made from recycled materials after the council’s Civil Operations Team repurposed a storage area. The initiative involves old materials like concrete and asphalt that are pulled up when roads are upgraded. Rather than sending this material to landfill, the Rockhampton Regional Council has stepped up its re-use through a recycling process. “Our Civil Ops saw an opportunity and the team have transformed what used to be a storage area in to a busy working site that now recycles ‘dirty’ products into ‘clean’ products, which can then be used on future projects," Infrastructure Committee chair Tony Williams said . “This massively reduces our environmental impact as those materials are no longer going to landfill, but has a huge cost benefit too. “Previously these materials were going to landfill at a cost of $200 a tonne. Now that our new facility is up and running, we can crush and recycle that material at just $7 a tonne. “When we started we were only recycling around 90 tonnes a day, but now that’s up to an impressive 300 per hour. This means we will be able to use the material not just in roads and civil ops projects, but for all kinds of projects across council too.” The first step of the recycling process is to keep the old materials in separate streams. “We then use a high impact crusher for the asphalt and concrete, and three different sorts of reclaimers to separate all the materials. We also use a 30 tonne excavator to feed the crusher and a front end loader to move all the materials around and load the stock piles," Cr Williams said. “With this process, we are able to recycle road pavement, old concrete, steel, and clean fill from our works. “The ‘clean’ products we produce include topsoil; clay; asphalt profiles; crushed concrete; concrete fines; road base; and three different sizes of c-class rock which we use for reinstating banks and drainage. We are also able to separate all steel from the concrete for recycling. “Throughout the entire process of recycling and reusing the materials we also ensure that we’re following all relevant environmental and engineering standards." Cr Williams said Rockhampton Regional Council had been recycling materials for the past five years on a smaller scale. But the new working site and process has allowed it to step up those efforts. “We’re still in the early stages of fully leveraging this new facility - as we are still testing some materials that are being produced - however we have already been able to complete projects across council quicker, more efficiently, and more cost-effectively," Cr Williams said. "It will be incredibly exciting to see how far this innovative project will take us once it’s in full swing. “I imagine there will be a number of other councils who will be keen to find out more.”

Rockhampton’s road to recycling success

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