Smart thinking when the ‘chips’ go down
The Carillion and Warwickshire County Council partnership is set to both save money and help the environment with an innovative new recycling of surface ‘chips’.
Support services and construction company Carillion, with partner Warwickshire County Council, will be saving thousands of pounds when it begins recycling surplus surface chippings during its annual surface dressing season this April/May.
Following initial trials, Warwickshire Highway Maintenance team - which currently manages 3,800km of road in Warwickshire and uses approximately 20,000 tonnes of surface dressing chippings each season, will be using recycled chippings thanks to an innovative mobile washing system which will see previously swept away surface dressing chippings, cleaned, graded and washed.
After around seven to eight years road surfaces can deteriorate – where the integrity of the road is suitable, surface dressing is used to extend the life of the road by between six and seven years.
The process uses thousands of tonnes of chippings each season which are bought from quarries located in neighbouring counties.
However, this year 2,000 tonnes of chippings that previously would have been disposed of have been recycled to produce 1,600 tones of suitable chippings and are stored at Oldbury Chipping Dump.
This means the 1,600 tonnes will not be needed to be brought into the County thus reducing noise and dust associated with quarrying and transportation as well as giving savings of over £15,000.
The annual programme of surface dressing sees the treatment of approximately 1.2million m2 of carriageway, equivalent to 200km of road or 5% of the overall network.
May is generally the start of the surface dressing season the reasons for surface dressing are, in the main to:
* seal the road surface against ingress of water
* halt the deterioration of the road surface
* provide a skid resistant road surface with the resultant benefits of reduction in accidents
* reduce spray
* maximise the cost effectiveness of limited highway maintenance funds
It is anticipated that between 3,000 tonnes of chippings will eventually be recycled which could translate to savings of approximately £40,000.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “I’m delighted to see that this environmental innovation will also be saving a considerable amount of money. It’s a credit to the partnership.”
Chris Hornsey Carillion Patching and Surface Dressing Manager from Carillion Highway Maintenance said: “This is an innovation we can use today that will help bring sustainability, both financially and environmentally to the people of Warwickshire.”
John Grant, Activity Manager from Warwickshire County Council said: “This is a perfect example of how the authority is committed to improving the way it works and seeks to exploit technology to drive down costs.”