Turning rubbish into roads

16 August 2019

Waverley Council is building its first roads made from recycled soft plastics, glass bottles and printer toner.

It is re-sheeting sections of Blair Street, North Bondi and Henrietta and St Thomas Streets, Bronte with Reconophalt, an innovative asphalt product composed of materials that would otherwise likely end up in landfill, stockpiled, or as a pollutant in the local environment.

Each tonne of Reconophalt contains around 800 soft plastic bag and packaging equivalents, 252 glass bottle equivalents, toner from 18 used printer cartridges and 300 kilograms of reclaimed asphalt pavement.

Waverley Mayor, John Wakefield said the days of using a product once or for a single purpose is over.

“We’re proud to be the first Council in this part of the eastern suburbs to use this product for our re-sheeting projects," Mayor Wakefield said.

Waverley Council is one of a handful of Councils in NSW using Reconophalt through a partnership with Downer.

The re-sheeting works are scheduled to begin on the following dates, weather pending:

• St Thomas Street (Albert St to Macpherson St) – 16 August
• Henrietta Street (Birrell St to Bronte Rd) – from 30 September
• Blair Street (Mitchell St to Wairoa Ave, south side) – from September 30

Local residents will be notified of upcoming works in more detail around two weeks’ prior to works commencing.

Council is considering using the product for future re-sheeting projects.