When the rubber hits the road

Each year, approximately 450,000 tonne of tyres are disposed of across Australia. These waste tyres cause some health and environmental concerns, acting as a breeding ground for pests and present a significant fire hazard.

Currently, only 9% of waste tyres are re-used, recycled or recovered. The remaining 91% of the tyres are either stockpiled or end up in landfill, representing a huge wasted opportunity.

Council worked with our road reseal contractor to use crumb rubber in our road reseal spray. The crumb rubber comes from the shredding and grinding of truck tyres into small particles and when mixed with warm bitumen, makes it more elastic, resulting in improved flexibility and road surface strength. This in turn enhances long-term performance through road pavement durability, meaning lower ongoing maintenance costs.

Environment benefits from crumb rubber use include a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to warm asphalt mix, it can be combined with other recycled materials, and roads containing crumb rubber have reduced noise from vehicle traffic compared to conventional road surfaces.