Old truck tyres have been repurposed to make asphalt used on the M80 upgrade between Sydney and Edgars roads.
Crumb rubber, made of ground-up truck tyres, as a binder called Olexocrumb in asphalt. Every tonne of binder includes the equivalent of 15 recycled passenger tyres.
Sixty-six tonnes of crumb rubber were used on the M80 and Monash Freeway upgrades.
The state government said this was the first time that it has been used as a substitute for polymer modified binder in open graded asphalt on a Victorian freeway. The product’s use has prevented almost a thousand end-of-life tyres ending up in landfill or stockpiles.
The equivalent of 662 car tyres were included in the Olexocrumb binder on the M80 Ring Road between Sydney Road and Edgars Road.
The state government’s ecologiQ program helped drive the use of crumb rubber on the M80 and Monash freeways, in line with its ambition to integrate as many recycled materials in transport projects as possible.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the M80 and Monash upgrades were fantastic examples of how the government was reusing, recycling and repurposing waste materials across its Big Build projects.
“Not only will these two freeway upgrades significantly improve how we travel across Melbourne, but they’re also the first major road projects in Victoria to use old truck tyres as part of their asphalt,” she said.
ecologiQ director Tony Aloisio said: “Crumb rubber is well known for its performance properties in asphalt and bitumen spray sealing, and we hope its use on these major freeways will help the industry shift towards seeing recycled products as the new normal.”
