Can recycled glass help create safer, more skid-resistant roads?

A mountain of brown glass bottles with colorful labels wait to be recycled. — Photo by Nareeta Martin on Unsplash.

The pavement industry may be on the verge of finding a new use for the glass in recycling bins.

Sustainability Victoria has awarded the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) and OmniGrip Direct $81,000 in funding for a project, which aims to see if recycled crushed glass can be blended with other aggregates to provide road surfaces with higher skid-resistance than conventional surfaces.

The hope is that using locally sourced recycled glass will reduce the amount of crushed and processed aggregate, reduce the cost, and reuse crushed glass otherwise destined for landfill to support the circular economy.

OmniGrip Direct is a company which develops and applies surfaces and other technology to eliminate road black spots. Its road surfaces have better skid-resistance properties than typical bitumen-based surfaces. These are used as safety treatments to apply to accident black spots and high-risk locations to improve grip for all road users. OmniGrip Direct uses Australian recycled glass as well as calcined bauxite within its existing range of treatments.

The project, titled ‘higher friction surfacing for road safety incorporating recycled glass‘ will assess the frictional performance of a number of blends against a control asphalt surfacing and traditional calcined bauxite.

Samples will be prepared. The frictional properties assessed. They will then be put through a simulative wearing regime and then the properties reassessed to ensure they meet the performance requirements.

This project has been funded through $81,000 from Sustainability Victoria. OmniGrip Direct is making both cash and in-kind contributions and as part of the agreement, ARRB is making an in-kind contribution.

The year-long project is expected to be completed by the end of September 2022.

The ARRB/OmniGrip Direct project is one of 10 funded under the Recycling Victoria R&D Fund for Materials to boost confidence in the use of recycled materials in everyday products and increase demand.

For more information about this project, contact ARRB at info@arrb.com.au