Hampshire Highways has announced the acquisition of a new mobile Volumetric Concrete Mixer, to boost its recycling capabilities and capacity for highways maintenance operations across the county.
An established collaboration, Hampshire Highways, sees Hampshire County Council, Milestone Infrastructure, and OCL Regeneration to work on maintaining over 5,300 miles of carriageway, 3,800 miles of footways, and 1,800 structures in Hampshire.
The new vehicle enables concrete to be made entirely from the gravel and tarmac of the site repair, which can then be delivered back into the ground where it was extracted, or onto another road repair site in the county. In addition, the Mixer’s agile recycling credentials support Hampshire County Council’s award-winning low-carbon agenda, which is further enhanced by using low-carbon hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as fuel.
“We are always looking to innovate regarding the materials and resources used across highway maintenance activities. This is a further example of how we strive to build more sustainable and climate-friendly methods in our operations,” said Councillor Nick Adams-King, Executive Member for Highways Operations at Hampshire County Council. “And it’s yet another way our award-winning Hampshire Highways Carbon Strategy is driving improvements towards meeting our target to be carbon neutral by 2050.”
The Hampshire Highways partnership already boasts the award-winning Road Materials Recycling Facility in Micheldever. This innovative highways depot in Hampshire enables waste associated with road works to be processed, cleaned, and re-used, reducing the volumes of carbon produced using virgin materials. In doing so, Hampshire Highways also eliminates a significant portion of transportation costs typically required too. This recycling facility will now provide the recycled raw materials for the Volumetric Concrete Mixer too. Specific concrete mix designs have been created and rigorously tested to ensure they meet the quality standard and specification requirements for use across the highway network.
“OCL is delighted to be involved in another innovation that showcases the commitment of Hampshire Highways to the decarbonisation of the highways network,” said Stuart Gready, Managing Director at OCL Regeneration.
Next, Hampshire Highways will assess clinker-free cement for inclusion in the concrete mix. This material emits only 180 kgCO2e in its manufacture compared to 900 kgCO2e emitted by the manufacture of traditional Portland cement. As such, it will be yet another effective innovation derived for use in Hampshire by the partnership to combat the impacts of climate change.
Simon Watson, Business Director at Milestone Infrastructure, said: “Milestone Infrastructure is continually looking to reduce carbon and, working with Hampshire County Council and OCL, we have taken another big step forward with these innovations.”
Find out more about the Hampshire Highways work and the Micheldeve depot, click here. You can learn more about OCL Regeneration and its committment to finding new and innovative products and treatments to help the industry build a lower carbon society.
