Queensland trial blends recycled off-road tyre rubber into local road surfaces
The Sunshine Coast is testing asphalt mixes that incorporate crumb rubber from retired off-the-road tyres on three streets, aiming to turn waste into pavement.
Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Council, together with Boral, Allens Asphalt, Carroll Engineering, Puma Energy Bitumen and academic partners, launched a field test that mixes crumb rubber from decommissioned off-the-road tyres into road-building compounds. The experiment covered three locations - Railroad Parade in Glass House Mountains, Spalls Road in Diddillibah and Perlan Street in Nambour - and tested mixes such as a 1.7% rubber-by-mass blend.
RMIT performed accelerated aging tests to gauge durability, while the Department of Transport and Main Roads compiled data on environmental and economic outcomes. Tyre Stewardship Australia notes that about 245,000 tons of OTR rubber are produced annually in Australia, much of it currently discarded. Successful results could give other regions a template for converting a hard-to-manage waste stream into a useful infrastructure resource.
Why it matters
Turning discarded industrial tyres into road material could reduce landfill waste and create local economic opportunities.
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