Part of the A92 trunk road at Ladybank, Fife, has been resurfaced using reprocessed asphalt stripped from the same stretch of road.
Breedon Group undertook the work in collaboration with Eurovia and BEAR Scotland, with investment from Transport Scotland.
Using a road planer, the existing road surface was removed along a one kilometre length of the A92 and then the ‘planings’ were transported to a special waste “quarantine zone” at Breedon’s Clatchard quarry near Newburgh, where it was reprocessed using new technology from Eurovia called Recofoam. The recycled material was then returned to the A92 and used as a base layer in the newly resurfaced road.
The recycled ‘foam mix’ is produced by expanding the bitumen via contact with small amounts of water under carefully controlled conditions, then mixing the foamed bitumen with the planings removed from the existing road. Breedon said the process produces a fully compliant recycled material, allowing its re-use within the new road construction. The resulting product incorporates up to 85% recycled materials and reduces CO2 emissions by around 50%.
Alan Mackenzie, managing director of Breedon Northern, said: “This is only the second time that the Recofoam technology has been used in Scotland and it has proven its value as the most sustainable way of reprocessing worn-out asphalt. It not only cuts emissions and reduces our environmental impact – both in the production process and through fewer truck journeys – but it also significantly reduces the need for hazardous waste landfill.
“We believe this is very much the future of sustainable road maintenance and we’re proud to be helping to pioneer this technology in Scotland.”
