Cups of Concrete: Recyclable road materials hardening up Penrith potholes

It’s hard to miss the abundant roadworks going on around Western Sydney of late, with expansions, repairs and new roads being built at a rapid rate. 

But were you aware of the unusual processes being employed in some areas to help save the environment as well as your suburban streets? 

Penrith City Council and State Asphalt have recently announced a brand new initiative that will see a new and more sustainable mix of materials used to close the seemingly immovable backlog of road repair jobs that have emerged amid challenging weather conditions, COVID lockdowns and rapid urban development. 

In the two newest resurfacing projects - covering a stretch of Jamison Road in South Penrith and Swallow Drive in Erskine Park - a brand new PAK-PAVE road surface is being used. 

What makes it so different? The new asphalt uses a mixture containing over 135,000 take-away coffee cups and 1.2 million glass bottles - a mix that has already been employed on over 8km of repaired roads in the Penrith LGA.

Driven by ratings

It’s a unique innovation that isn’t just environmentally sound - it could also prove beneficial and cost-effective in wider Sydney, where the current state of roads has become a frequent issue - highlighted by the recent findings of the NRMA’s ‘Rate Your Road’ survey, where over 10,000 roads across NSW and Sydney were flagged by NRMA members alone based on congestion and condition. 

The worst rated road in NSW? A stretch of Parramatta Road in Auburn, with areas in Carlingford, Liverpool and West Ryde also making the Top 10. 

But more important than the rankings is the fact that 10,800 roads across NSW were in a condition bad enough to receive a nomination from survey participants. While it’s nice to know where the worst of the worst are, it’s clear that the problem extends far beyond a Top 10. 

In January this year, the State Government announced a $500 million funding boost to councils across the state to assist with road repair, noting that with the continuing weather events and other issues since February 2022, more than 170,000 potholes had been repaired in regional areas, with even more in Greater Sydney.

That has inevitably led to experimentation, and other materials have also been explored. With one of the biggest challenges relating to potholes being an inability to repair them during wet weather, Transport NSW explored eight new filler methods, including one that actually required rain to properly set. It can be ready for traffic within five minutes of the materials being laid. 

Pothole Pandemic

But it’s clear why alternatives - whether financially or practically more efficient - are being explored. 

Last year, in Penrith alone, more than 1,300 potholes were recorded between July and November - significantly more than the average yearly number of 800. The harsh weather and emerging crisis led council to call for more funding - and thankfully the state government was listening, announcing the expanded funding package within weeks. 

Without long-term viability in mind, any hasty solution to deal with the massive number of jobs could in turn lead to more repairs later - something that has been kept in mind with the formulation of new materials. The new PAK-PAVE surface has been extensively tested, and has been found to have numerous benefits. 

“Road users may not notice the subtle differences between PAK-PAVE and other surfaces under normal driving conditions - apart from it being quieter,” said Penrith Mayor Tricia Hitchen in a release. 

“However, in adverse conditions the new surface is reported to improve braking and wet weather performance.” 

Approximately 136,000 takeaway coffee cups have been diverted from landfill to be used across the two new Penrith projects, with the materials collected by the Simply Cups initiative - Australia’s largest paper cups recycling program. 

“The Simply Cups program has saved more than 30 million paper cups from landfill since the beginning of 2017,” said Closed Loop Director Rob Pascoe. 

“We have explored dozens of practical applications for the cups which contain very high-quality fibre but are challenging to recycle because of their waterproof lining.”

While it's unlikely that waterproof lining will play a role in the decision to use the cups for road repairs, it's clear that this brand new production method could have extensive benefits for both drivers and the environment.

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