WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION – TYRE RECYCLING
Crumb rubber gathering TYRE STEWARDSHIP AUSTRALIA HOSTED A WORKSHOP WITH STAKEHOLDERS FROM ACROSS THE WHOLE SUPPLY CHAIN, PROVIDING AN UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS OF CRUMB RUBBER UPTAKE.
T
he circular economy is a longdiscussed topic as multiple industries recognise the need to shift from the linear economy to one where products are kept in the supply chain for as long as possible. While the term has been thrown around loosely from time to time, the roads sector is one that has been taking proactive action on material reuse for decades. Turning discussion into action, the Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA), which represents more than 500 members in the road construction sector, chose to embed this theme into its 18th conference. Crumb rubber (CR) products are one of the best known and well tested areas that demonstrate the circular economy. CR modified binder has been used in Australia since the mid70s, although its utilisation has been inconsistent and more common in spray sealing applications. But in recent times, a more diverse use of CR in pavements has become commonplace through research and development funded by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA). To get a sense of CR uptake, TSA sponsored a workshop at the AAPA Conference in Sydney in August. The workshop was facilitated Joe Grobler from the Australian Road Research Board and included presentations from TSA Senior Strategy Manager Liam O’Keefe, Puma
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Clinton Habner takes the mic beside Erik Denneman (left), Darryl Byrne and Liam O’Keefe.
Bitumen’s Erik Denneman, Tyrecycle’s Clinton Habner and Fulton Hogan’s Darryl Byrne. The presenters included stakeholders from each end of the supply chain of Australian tyre-derived product in the road sector, from bitumen supply to tyre recycling and road construction. Mr Habner spoke on behalf of the challenges facing recycling industries that remanufacture end-of-life materials and the benefits that ongoing procurement of their product can provide to the sector. Mr Denneman discussed the fact that increasing demand from CR binders is already impacting Puma Bitumen – one of Australia’s largest bitumen providers for asphalt products. According to Mr Denneman, we’re no longer waiting for the market to shift – it’s already moving. He also provided extensive technical analysis on trends in the industry. Finally, Mr Byrne from Fulton Hogan
spoke of the fact that as a contractor, he’s seen the benefits of CR binders in creating longer lasting pavements. He explained that the days of trials and demonstrations must give way to normalising use. Contractors are ready to provide the product, however, better manufacturing infrastructure that can accommodate CR and more cost competitive feedstock is required. “We’ve got about 450,000 tonnes of tyre waste here in Australia. We use a small percentage of that, 10,000 tonnes in bitumen surfacing, [and] I think we can grow that quite rapidly over the coming years, with the aspiration within industry in various forms to get it to 35,000 tonnes per annum,” Mr Byrne said. The panellists noted that an uplift in volume in CR is starting to occur in asphalt use as modern asphalt plants are able to produce wet mixed CR asphalts though vertical tanks with agitation. Mr Byrne highlighted that an
