As part of the Sunbury Road Upgrade, 3.3km of recycled pipes are being used to improve stormwater drainage.
The colourful, speckled pipes are 100 per cent recycled high-density polyethylene, made up of a wide range of household plastic materials, including milk bottles, shampoo bottles and kitchen and laundry product packaging.
Up to 5000 milk bottles are recycled to produce one 630mm RPM pipe. That’s equivalent to more than 1.3km of waste milk bottles laid end to end.
More than 2.75 million recycled plastic bottles were used in addition to other recyclable materials to create the pipes along this project.
Manufactured locally in Kyabram by RPM, approximately 80.5 tonnes of recycled plastic was used to build the pipes.
As they are lighter than traditional concrete pipes, they are safer and quicker to install.
“We are proud to deliver on Victoria’s Recycled First policy and employ more sustainable construction practices on the Sunbury Road Upgrade, because it provides the best environmental outcomes,” said Dipal Sorathia, program director, Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV).
MRPV and its construction partners, supported by ecologiQ, are committed to identifying ways to use more recycled materials across all major road upgrades, in line with the Victorian Government’s Recycled First Policy.
The shift to recycled products is being driven by Victoria’s ecologiQ program, which is leveraging Victoria’s Big Build to boost the use of recycled and reused materials.
Recycled First is being implemented across future Victorian Big Build projects as well as Department of Transport and Planning projects from 2022.
The Sunbury Road Upgrade will be completed by 2025.