Tarmac gain accreditation for use of sustainable rubber asphalt

Rubber modified asphalt incorporates recycled end-of-life car tyres.

Tarmac has secured industry approval for its rubber modified asphalt incorporating recycled end-of-life car tyres for use on the road network.

The firm says its ULTIPAVE R is the first thin surfacing system of its kind to receive British Board of Agrément (BBA) HAPAS Clause 942 approval.

Testing was carried out over a number of years and the firm worked alongside Highways England in 2019, where a trial section of the material was laid on the southbound carriageway of the M1.

Tarmac has calculated it can reuse the rubber of up to 750 waste tyres for every km of highway surfaced with the new material, depending on the thickness of the road.

The rubber-modified asphalt is manufactured with the company’s ULTILOW warm-mix binder technology which further reduces its embodied carbon.

Brian Kent, National Technical Director at Tarmac, says, ‘As a business, we remain fully committed to developing sustainable construction materials and our innovative rubber modified asphalt is another fantastic example of the innovation we continue to invest in, to improve the environmental performance of our roads.

‘Using high-grade aggregates and rubber, ULTIPAVE R delivers impressive durability. Securing the BBA HAPAS approval is a major milestone for us and will enable us to introduce the product to even more of our partners for use across the UK’s strategic road network, as well as further expand its use on the local authority road network.’