Forecasts & statistics

Canadian association unveils recycled aggregate research

The Toronto and Area Road Builders Association (TARBA) recently released its 2018 Aggregate Recycling by Ontario Municipalities study.

TARBA conducted the study in July and August, examining policies and practices in place in Ontario municipalities. According to the study, Ontario’s largest municipalities have “a long way to go before they can fully realize the benefits of increased use of recycled aggregate materials.”

The Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, the Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association, the Heavy Construction Association of Toronto, and the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario also supported the study, according to TARBA’s report.

Main takeaways from the study include:

• many large municipalities prohibit or severely limit the use of recycled aggregate materials for new roads and infrastructure;
• most large municipalities either do not allow or only allow partial use of recycled aggregate materials in the base and subbase for pavement, engineered fill and trench backfill materials, unpaved shoulders and fill under concrete slab;
• the type of projects where municipalities are most likely to allow full use of recycled aggregate materials are construction access roads and bicycle paths;
• there is a wide range in the policies and practices of large Ontario municipalities with respect to the use of recycled aggregate materials, where some have policies and practices in place which encourage greater use than others; and
• in a ranking of municipalities based on the extent to which their current policies and practices encourage the use of recycled aggregate materials, the cities of Toronto, Cambridge and Markham ranked at the top of the list and the Peel region, city of Oshawa and city of Mississauga appeared at the bottom of the list.

Toronto placed first among 20 of Ontario’s largest cities and regions for its performance in recycling concrete and asphalt. Go to tarba.org to review the full study and list of results.