Mornington Peninsula Shire is committed to delivering its Climate Emergency response through sustainable projects and reducing greenhouse gas emissions when constructing, renovating, refurbishing, and conducting maintenance.
As part of this commitment, the Shire is trialling a new material for our footpaths and will be recycling plastics into our roads.
The much-anticipated road upgrade at Wilkinson Street and Carmichael Street in Tootgarook is being constructed with Plastiphalt – an asphalt product using recycled waste plastic.
This follows the construction of a new footpath in the same location including five per cent Polyrok.
This is a product made from recycled plastic from the Redcycle program which sees soft plastics collected at our supermarkets turned into usable construction materials.
By trialling materials with recycled content included, we are working towards a more sustainable future.
This initiative is part of Council's Environmentally Sustainable Design Policy aiming to enhance the Peninsula's built environment to meet our diverse community's needs without detriment to the natural environment.
The Policy ensures all our capital works deliver more sustainable outcomes and are designed to ensure we build towards a zero-carbon future.
The Policy aligns with Council's Climate Change Community Engagement Strategy, Carbon Neutral Policy, the Biodiversity Conservation Plan, draft Beyond Zero Waste Strategy, the draft Integrated Water Management Strategy, and the upcoming Integrated Transport Strategy.
The road upgrade of Wilkinson Street and Carmichael Street will also see:
- rehabilitation and upgrade of the existing roadways
- formalisation of on street parking areas in the vicinity of Tootgarook Primary School
- installation of appropriate drainage to address the ongoing drainage issues.
The footpath at Wilkinson Street and Carmichael Street has been completed and it is anticipated the road construction will be completed in March 2021.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Councillor Despi O'Connor:
"Not only does this provide a market for plastic otherwise sent to landfill, it also adds performance benefits to the road, meaning longer life and lower maintenance."
Quotes attributable to Nepean Ward Councillor Hugh Fraser:
"With 340 tonnes of asphalt being laid, the road will contain approximately 1,200kg of plastic or 430,000 plastic bags. The footpath at Wilkinson Street and Carmichael Street will see soft plastics directly under our feet."
"This innovative use of materials will reduce the Shire's dependence on the use of extractive materials quarried from environmentally sensitive places."
Quotes attributable to Nepean Ward Councillor Sarah Race:
"The production of standard concrete produces a significant amount of greenhouse gases, by replacing 5 per cent of the rock used in the concrete with recycled plastic we're reducing the energy required to build the footpath, as well as diverting 700kg (175,000 plastic packages) of plastic from landfill."
Photo caption for first picture (L - R): Shire's Project Manager Elliot Reid, Shire's ESD Policy & Integration Officer Daniel Kabel, Cr Race, Managing Director REPLAS Mark Jacobsen, Cr Fraser and Mayor O'Connor at Tootgarook's Wilkinson Street and Charmichael Street upgrade site.
