Charles Sturt Council is the first Council in South Australia to use recycled plastic fibres instead of the traditional resource-heavy steel mesh reinforcement for a number of new footpath and community upgrades.
Daniel Romano of Hi Mix Concrete was the catalyst for the decision. "Hi Mix was established by my father in 1989 – in the world of concrete, innovation and protection of our environment are key differentiators for us."
"I found Emesh by searching for an environmentally better solution for ready mix concretes. Emesh just made sense, and had so many other benefits with cost, safety, and ease of construction."
Queensland engineering firm Fibercon developed the Emesh technology in conjunction with researchers from James Cook University in 2015. Emesh is made from 100% recycled polypropylene – the second most widely used plastic in the world, and one of only 3 types of plastic which floats – contributing to the burgeoning ocean gyres.
By using Emesh to reinforce concrete instead of steel mesh, 70 tonnes of plastic waste has already been recycled by Councils on the eastern seaboard. This is in addition to saving 1750 tons of CO2 emissions, 32670 m3 of water, and 350 ton fossil fuels.
"When Adelaide based construction firm Nova Group came to us to supply concrete for a number of Charles Sturt Council projects, I recommended Emesh instead of the traditional steel reinforcement", said Daniel.
To date, Emesh has been used in the $26.5million St Clair Recreation project; the Adelaide Parklands Upgrade – linking the CBD to key inner city suburbs; the Port Road Drainage Project; and a number of reserve upgrades throughout the Charles Sturt Council area.
