ARRB gets grant from Sustainability Victoria

The Australian Road Research Board has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Victorian Government through Sustainability Victoria to trial recycled crushed glass in asphalt on local roads.

The grant has been issued to ARRB in collaboration with Brimbank City Council in western Melbourne, and VicRoads (Department of Transport).

Over 250,000 tonnes of glass is recovered from households and business in Victoria every year. Using finely crushed glass in road pavement materials has the potential to create viable markets for the vast amounts of glass collected in Victoria, especially that which is low-value and not easily recycled back into other glass products.

ARRB has done significant research in this space – much of which was showcased at its recent Smart Pavements Now masterclass event in Melbourne.

The ARRB grant is one of nine that Sustainability Victoria has issued under its research, development and demonstration grants program. Other grants are also for projects involving e-waste, plastic and paper.

Sustainability Victoria’s interim CEO Carl Muller said: “It’s all part of Victoria’s growing circular economy – we need proven recycled content products and markets for those products to make recycling viable.

“This will build confidence and market demand.”

ARRB project lead Dr James Grenfell said the potential for use of recycled glass in asphalt offered great opportunities for councils, especially in helping deal with Australia’s current recycling issue.

“The other exciting aspect is the engagement with a local city council and to have the ability to monitor a field trial for an extended period of time,” said Dr Grenfell, part of ARRB’s Future Transport Infrastructure team.

“The collaboration with local government is what we want to get so we can help local government use the waste stream for their road rehabilitation schemes.”

Dr Grenfell and ARRB colleagues Melissa Lyons and Lydia Thomas were involved in preparing the recycled crushed glass in asphalt proposal.

Read the full Sustainability Victoria media release