Miles Macadam recently delivered our first carbon neutral surfacing scheme in South Wales, in collaboration with Cardiff Council. In 2021, the Council released ‘The One Planet Cardiff Strategy’ declaring their plan to make Cardiff a Carbon Neutral city by 2030. Miles Macadam worked closely with their Highways Team during the planning stages to look for the greatest possible carbon savings by firstly selecting Milepave™ as a reduced carbon surfacing process, using less resources, lower mixing temperatures and having a lower bitumen content than conventional asphalt surfacing materials.
To reduce the carbon footprint further, Miles Macadam worked in collaboration with the Harsco environmental coating plant, SteelPhalt. Scrap metals from across Wales, (including end of life cars) are melted down at the plant and the by-product of this process is the creation of a durable, sustainable steel aggregate, which can be used to replace quarried stone. The use of this recycled material created another significant reduction in the carbon footprint (now over 50% to that of a conventional hot mix surfacing process, utilising natural aggregate).
Delivered Programme of Work:
- 12,780m² of 50mm Milepave surfacing
- 1,685 tonnes of steel aggregate laid
- 33% less carbon than a similar Milepave scheme utilising quarried aggregate
- 66 tCO₂e total emissions, including sub-contractors Scope 3 transport
Environmental Saving:
- Savings of 1,477 tonnes of virgin aggregate extraction, equating to 6.5 tonnes of carbon (ICE 3)
- 1,510 tonnes of road planings returned to plant and recycled into coated materials
- Increased performance and subsequent lower whole life carbon costs
Financial Saving:
- Designed system to last longer, address specific site related issues and ensure lower whole life cost
Miles Macadam and Milepave™ offer significant benefits over conventional approaches and through our direct emission reduction, carbon neutral certification and carbon reduction strategy, the scheme will be certified as achieving Net Zero Carbon Emissions. We are delighted to have delivered this scheme for Cardiff Council and to facilitate their commitment to climate change.
A link to the drone footage taken for this scheme can be found below: