Construction News has hailed the Micheldever Road Materials Recycling Facility project a “seriously impressive” feat at the 2022 Construction News Awards.
The awarding panel was taken aback by the impact of the innovative project, which provides a sustainable solution to decarbonise highways.
The project is being delivered by Hampshire Highways in partnership with Milestone Infrastructure, Hampshire County Council and OCL Regeneration. The Micheldever Road Materials Recycling Facility specialises in recycling asphalt wastes containing coal tar [AWCCT] extracted from highway works across the county, turning them into reusable products that save up to 50 per cent carbon compared to hot asphalt. The site crushes, screens, blends, and mixes the materials, making waste into more sustainable products.
Having become fully operational in April 2022, the facility is estimated to save on 665 tonnes of carbon emissions and recycle 35,000 tonnes of construction waste into industry highway standard materials.
The scale of Micheldever’s potential prompted the Construction News Awards panel to hail the project as a “seriously impressive reduction programme built around recycling hazardous wastes” in its verdict, even though it did not hand Micheldever the top prize at the awards showpiece.
Stuart Gready, founder and managing director at OCL Regeneration, commented: “Local authorities up and down the UK are turning to OCL to reduce carbon emissions and improve highway waste recycling in highways projects.
“While it was a shame that we didn’t win the top prize on the night, we’re delighted to get strong feedback and build on the Green Apple award victory we had with Milestone and Hampshire County Council for the project at the end of last year.
“The Micheldever project has steadily evolved and is now a leading example of how to not just neutralise but reduce carbon associated with highways.”
Photo by Paul Fiedler on Unsplash
