Penrith, New South Wales, has become the first place in Australia to get a road which includes recycled coffee cups in its construction. The fibres from the cups help create a road that's reportedly safer and quieter than regular asphalt with a 24 per cent reduction in carbon footprint.
This sustainable asphalt is known as Pak-Pave and was developed by State Asphalts NSW in conjunction with Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, which operates the Simply Cups paper recycling program. Closed Loop managing director, Rob Pascoe, told PKN that this project has been three years in the making, adding that Pak-Pave is a substitute for a product, previously imported from Germany, that was made of crude oil.
The pilot project for Pak-Pave roads is located along a section of Jamison Road at South Penrith, with a second project to follow on Swallow Drive, Erskine Park. These two projects will utilise over 135,000 recycled paper cups, including coffee cups, which amounts to 85% of the paper cups collected for recycling in the Penrith LGA throughout 2022.
Pak-Pave roads will also make use of 1.2 million glass stubbies, as well as reclaimed asphalt pavement and steel furnace slag. Altogether, these materials will make up over 50 per cent of all materials used in the construction of the roadway.
John Kypreos, director of State Asphalts NSW said, “It is exciting to be delivering a practical circular economy solution in partnership with Closed Loop, and we hope that other councils and state governments will start specifying Pak-Pave roads, both as a high-quality road surface and a product that uses a high percentage of recycled materials.”
Penrith Mayor, Tricia Hitchen, said council is proud to be leading the way in a move that leads to a more sustainable circular economy and delivers a high-quality road surface for all road users.
“With over 1208 km of roads maintained by Penrith City Council, and countless kilometres of state roads in our LGA, we have the opportunity to make our roads far more environmentally friendly than first thought through the use of recycled materials,” she added.
Pascoe told PKN that the Simply Cups initiative was started six years ago, with a partnership with 7-Eleven to collect paper cups from around the country. He explained that now many companies and small businesses are getting involved, and in order to participate all they have to do is have a special collection tube put in their office or shop for people to dispose of their cups.
He added the recycled cups have many other uses besides road asphalt, for example a product called saveBoard, which is a plywood substitute.
Pascoe advised PKN that individuals who want to donate their paper cups can take them to nearby collection points, which includes more than 630 7-Eleven stores in Australia, as well as many other shopping centres, office buildings and schools.
Since Simply Cups' inception, over 30 million paper cups have been collected in such a way, allowing them to be recycled and avoiding landfill.
