In the last blog, we discussed how electrification of vehicle fleets and the use of alternative fuels will go some way to achieving net zero in the road sector, as part of an overall solution encompassing promoting active travel and public transport, fleet management and transport-oriented planning.
Whilst much can be achieved though these measures, even if they were comprehensively implemented, on its own, this will not be enough. Significant quantities of carbon are generated from the construction and maintenance of highways in the form of asphalt, concrete and steel and the carbon emissions of transporting them to the site.
What is a Circular Economy, and why is it important?
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation reported in 2021 that the transition to renewable energy and energy efficiency would only address 55% of global emissions across all sectors. The remaining 45% comes from the production of goods, food and land management. The Circular Economy (CE), therefore, has a vital role in the overall decarbonisation journey, and road transport needs to play its part.
Isn’t this just a fancy rebrand of recycling?
The concept of the circular economy is sometimes perceived as being synonymous with recycling or increased levels of recycling of road materials. Whilst recycling is positive, it doesn’t go far enough. Rather, the circular economy implies a new way of thinking where reducing the use of materials, reuse and repair have a far higher priority. It must also be acknowledged that in road construction and maintenance, recycling is often downcycling to lower-value applications or road layers.
Maple led the ITEN team as part of a wider consortium on the CERCOM (Circular Economy in Road COnstruction and Maintenance) project, where a working definition of circularity in road construction and maintenance was developed as follows:
- Minimising consumption of natural resources
- Designing out waste and keeping resources in use and at their highest level of utility
- Optimising the value obtained in each lifecycle
- Improving environmental performance and contributing to societal development.
These high-level aims were then translated into a framework and a matrix which could be used to assess national road administrations’ progress against a series of measures. In general, it was found that the ambition for the circular economy was quite high, but that translating it into practical measures around KPIs and changing business practices was less well developed.
There were examples of good practice found, however, with strategies being developed and the inclusion of both CO2 and recycled content targets. Very often, whether contracts are procured based on initial costs or whole life costs, the end-of-life costs tend not to be factored in. These tend to fall on the road authority at the end of the contract. Longer contracts based on procurement and handover quality have been shown to increase circularity due to better construction quality at the start and an incentive to maintain and repair roads rather than let them deteriorate. Overall, this should lower costs too, but requires multi-year funding settlements to achieve rather than year-on-year funding, which tends to get used at local levels in repairing potholes rather than maintaining roads to a high quality over longer periods.
There are examples of good practice at a local level, such as Brighton, which has a circular economy plan for all council activities, including road maintenance, and considers surface extensions and exploring ways to design out waste and develop KPIs to report progress.
This tends to be the expectation rather than the norm, and whilst many national road administrations are considering it as part of their processes, it is by no means in place as part of their business-as-usual processes. There are opportunities, however, at a regional level for resource exchange sites to take in materials from the local and strategic road network. Here, materials would be collected, sorted, graded and potentially remanufactured so that a circular economy of multi-life material was available and put to use locally.
The Circular Economy is less well developed and understood than emissions reduction and recycling, yet it is a crucial aspect in achieving net zero. The CERCOM project website has a wide range of resources available for use here.
For a discussion on how the Maple team and ITEN network can help you implement circular principles as part of your decarbonisation journey, contact Martin Lamb at [email protected].
