Stockland’s Minta estate, located in Berwick, south-east of Melbourne, will soon be home to Australia’s largest environmentally friendly road project, spanning more than two kilometres of roadway.

The road is made from Reconophalt, a road surfacing material that contains highly recycled content derived from waste streams. This includes soft plastics, toner, glass and reclaimed road that would otherwise be bound for landfill or stockpiled. Created by Downer, Reconophalt is a form of asphalt, and does not cause any harm to the environment or exude harmful fumes.

The project is a collaborative effort, with Stockland, City of Casey Council, Downer Road Services and Winslow Constructors Australia delivering the road to the new estate. When completed, the total length of road will be 2,430 metres and the total area of pavement will be 17,800 square metres.

The project will divert approximately 1,356,000 plastic bags, 39,610 printer cartridges and 724 tonnes of recycled asphalt from landfill, saving the equivalent of 23.08 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 9.5 cars coming off the road for one year.

Stockland Project Director Kerry Balci says the road is part of a wider focus to adopt sustainable practice across Minter and other Stockland-developed communities.

“Stockland is committed to using sustainable materials. Our sustainability approach focuses on our opportunity to deliver shared value; specifically through our responsibility to create the right balance of social, environment and economic outcomes for our stakeholders, now and into the future,” she says.

“We’re proud to put Minta firmly on the map with this movement. This environmental initiative is one of the first of many Stockland projects that will be using recycled asphalt - helping grow our communities while being as kind to the environment as possible.”

Stockland and the City of Casey worked in partnership in order to make the approval process a smooth one for the developer. Earlier this year Stockland brought forward their commitment to achieve Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2028, two years earlier than the original target of 2030 as part of their sustainability strategy.

Downer’s Group Manager of Corporate Affairs, Karen Winsbury says Reconophalt is a logical, sustainable solution that should be implemented within new communities by all developers.

“There has never been a greater need to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill with soft plastic, tyres, glass and excavation waste being major issues globally,” she says.

“We needed to minimise the extraction of natural resources for use in this much needed infrastructure development - that’s why Downer has invested heavily over the past 10 years to create economic, social and environmental benefit for our customers and their communities by pulling products, not pushing waste. The project at Stockland Minta is a great example of forward-thinking, large scale projects that use these materials.”

For more information regarding the project, visit the Stockland Minta website here.

Jarrod Reedie

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