The "beer bottle" highway
Unique use of beer bottles which couldn't be recycled trialled near Hamilton.
If you’re driving on the intersection of Horsham downs and Lake Rd in north Hamilton, take care – you’re driving on glass.
Just kidding – although technically, it’s true. That intersection, part of the Hamilton expressway, was partly constructed out of asphalt and “beer bottle glass sand”.
The latter is glass waste, made into a sand substitute by crushing glass that for various reasons (usually contamination) cannot be recycled.
It’s the brainchild of DB Breweries and its DB Export Beer Bottle Sand machines. The beer brand recently partnered with a recycling company to help turn waste glass into a useful sand substitute. This contaminated glass, otherwise destined for landfill, then becomes a product which (among other uses) goes into a ready-made concrete (Drymix Super Easy Eco-Concrete) available at a national DIY retailer.
So far, they have crushed over 300 tonnes of glass into a sand substitute – also used in roading, construction (as at Queenstown airport) and golf courses – where it takes the place of bunker sand which would otherwise be sourced from beaches.
Akarana Golf Club in Auckland is one such where the members may be unaware that their wayward shot is, technically, sitting in the middle of beer bottles and other glass.
However, it is roading which sees the lion’s share of the sand substitute which, when it was announced about a year ago, drew praise that it was wearing better on the north Hamilton intersection than traditional materials.
Waikato District Council Alliance capital works manager Steve Uffindell told Stuff at the time: "This single project has used the previously non-recyclable material created by almost 12,000 bottles and has produced an asphalt that has, so far, outperformed the existing material."
Summer produces some temperatures so hot that the tar roads bubble and “bleed” but Uffindell said: “We use asphalt on high-stress or heavily trafficked areas in the network to cope with these conditions. The glass asphalt withstands the higher temperatures well, whereas a chip seal would deteriorate more.”
The cost was similar to regular asphalt used previously on the site and the sand is manufactured by DB Breweries as part of its drive to use the unrecyclable bottles and glass as a sustainable sand substitute.
Every year, about 27 per cent of glass waste makes its way into New Zealand landfills, which equates to roughly 60,000 tonnes of glass.
"DB Export has identified this as an issue and has been crushing this waste into usable material for the construction industry,” says Tony Wheeler, senior marketing manager, DB Export.
"This can be used for a range of purposes, including in construction, roading, golf bunkers, DIY projects, pipe bedding and sports field drainage. This new sand substitute is very similar to traditional sand and is completely safe to handle and walk on," he says.
DB’s Super Easy Eco Concrete is also made from the substitute sand; it is sold through a national retailer and is best used for jobs around the house such as installing letterbox posts, clotheslines, pathways and general DIY use.
“Currently, on average, three bottles in every 12 pack don’t get recycled,” Wheeler says. “With our recycling partners, we are creating DB Export Beer Bottle Sand in volumes which are the equivalent weight of 42,400 packs of DB Export beer or 18 adult elephants.”
Another region using similar glass-based sand is Palmerston North where a new subdivision is part of a long-term test of roading where half the road has a glass aggregate base and the other has no glass. Monitoring is under way to compare road performance.
DB Export are also running, this summer, a competition encouraging Kiwis to submit “world-saving ideas” for a share of a prize of $50,000. For more information on the Save The Entire World competition: https://savetheentireworld.co.nz/
As one of New Zealand’s largest beer producers, we know we need to operate sustainably – not just for our sake, but also for the good of our local communities. That’s why sustainability is a key part of the way we do business at DB Export. Over the last three years DB Export has created two incredible, ‘world-saving’ ideas – Brewtroleum and Beer Bottle Sand. Now we’re looking for the next idea that might help ‘save the entire world’.
