Environmental Stewardship: Everyone's Responsibility

From climate change and recycling, to pollution and air quality, issues surrounding the environment have shot to the fore in recent years. With global warming melting icebergs, and seasonal weather changes blighting crop growers around the world, this has become one of the major international political issues of our time. Some experts suggest that confronting these environmental issues presents the greatest challenge we have ever faced as a global community. A shift is already taking place.

In the UK, there are plans to produce up to 20 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The intention is to cut back on damaging greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from burning fossil fuels like coal for power generation. On the roads, fuel guzzling cars have also been blamed for choking the air, pumping out noxious gases and contributing to the global warming effect. This means traffic on highways up and down the country is contributing to the problem. Protecting and enhancing the environment on and around these highways is everyone's business, including ours.

It is a critical time for all parties to address the pressures that growing transport demands are placing on the global environment. As well as turning to alternative fuels to power our cars, and switching to low energy light bulbs at home, this also means changes to highway maintenance. The HTMA considers reducing the environmental impact of work on UK roads to be among its most important priorities going forward.

Highways and the Environment: What's the problem?

With concern over the environment mounting, the highways maintenance industry is reappraising its role to see how it can play a part in tackling climate change. Certain methods and practices used in highways maintenance have been linked to raising the level of GHGs such as carbon dioxide. This is known as the industry's carbon footprint.

According to one report, resurfacing around 25 million square metres of UK roads - about the average for one year - produces in the region of 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). That is the same amount churned out by approximately 300,000 cars. This carbon footprint directly contributes to the global warming effect. Some of the causes are easy to identify.

In reparing potholes and road surfaces, traditional practice involves digging out the damaged area using jackhammers and then transporting old materials to landfill or recycling plants, before manufacturing and bringing in new asphalt and aggregate. The ordinary maintenance of roads generates a daily stream of waste materials excavated in the course of patching, resurfacing and other works.

This chain brings with it an environmental cost that may not have been accounted for in the past but today is now a burden that needs to be addressed. Although the bulk of carbon emissions associated with the highway network derive from the millions of vehicles that use the roads, the construction, maintenance and operation of this infrastructure also gulps large quantities of resources. Producing and transporting these materials to site equally carries an environmental cost. The HTMA plans to help reduce the impact of this footprint.

Stats and Facts

In 2008 we launched our Green Driving Book with useful tips and advice for motorists on how to be more environmentally responsible and aware on the roads.

If the current road resurfacing in the UK is 25 million square metres every year, this would give rise to around 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year. (Source: ASI Solutions/Best Foot Forward Limited)

If road patching in the UK is 9.6 million square metres per year, this would give rise to more than 800,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. (Source: ASI Solutions/Best Foot Forward Limited)

The total volume of carbon emissions arising from 35 million square metres of repair and resurfacing work each year is equivalent to the emissions of around 500,000 cars. (Source: ASI Solutions/Best Foot Forward Limited)

What is the HTMA goal to mitigate environmental impact?

Protecting and enhancing the environment is among the HTMA's most important priorities. In December 2006 we launched the HTMA Environmental Working Group with a remit to coordinate action and planning in this area.

The HTMA believes that the highways maintenance industry must adopt a complete culture change to mitigate the environmental impact of its activities and needs a much longer term planning strategy that considers the future sustainability of its business. This culture change needs to be adopted to mitigate the effects of climate change in the daily delivery of services to clients. It will also direct the forward planning required to assess the impact on those services from greater variation in weather patterns and temperatures.

The HTMA has established a working group focusing on four key environmental and sustainability topics - carbon footprint and climate change, working methods, transport and legislation. In the short term, the intention is to identify a number of quick wins by ensuring that members of the association adopt environmental best practice. This can be achieved by sharing knowledge and experiences such as the use of recycled materials and innovative carbon positive techniques.

Climate Change & Carbon Footprint:

The purpose of the HTMA climate change and carbon footprint group is to fully investigate the consequences these issues on UK highways and subsequently on the requirement for maintenance services. In the first instance, the HTMA plans to monitor and define precisely the carbon footprint for the industry. This means first developing a robust methodology for defining that footprint. Only by understanding the scale of the problem will the industry be able to tackle it effectively.

The group will also produce a table of industry specific consequential effects of climate change, including a detailed risk assessment analysis. This work will then be used for engagement with the government and other parties for discussion and lobbying in conjunction with our legislation group.

Transport:

The transport segment has the largest carbon footprint of all our focus areas. The HTMA transport group has been split into three core areas. These cover: renewable fuels and fuel efficiencies, deployment and technology. Initially, the immediate focus is to draw up an individual charter, to promote awareness and foster the right culture and attitude among stakeholders to tackling environmental issues. This will lead to the establishment of targets within the industry to cut emissions by a certain level over a given period of time.

The group will also look into how the industry workforce is moved from site to site and explore research into other areas relating to the transportation segment.

Working Methods:

The aim of this HTMA group is to look at mitigation and adaptation approaches to climate change, bringing on board clients and other interested parties along the way. Adaptation of new practices in the industry will be difficult unless the client is fully on board.

One of the challenges facing this group is to further define the carbon footprint for selected techniques within the highways maintenance industry. This will deploy a similar methodology in collaboration with the climate change and carbon footprint group.

The working methods group will also generate a list of recycling techniques available to the industry and other new initiatives in the pipeline. It will also work with the legislation group to facilitate more licensed waste collecting stations to mitigate the effects of greater travel, among other areas.

Legislation:

The HTMA legislation group will work with the other focus groups to define and take action where necessary on problems arising from legislative issues. The environmental sector is at the heart of a raft of new legislation covering all kinds of areas, from road transport to energy to house building.

The group will attempt to provide the HTMA with a common and coordinated approach to compliance that can be spread right across the industry. It will also assess new and proposed legislation, to establish its aims and potential impact on highways maintenance, and to issue a response where necessary.

So What's Being Done About It?

With good management and planning the effects of this environmental impact can be minimised. One idea is to simply get more trucks and traffic off the roads in order to reduce not only congestion and pollution from vehicles, but also to cut the need for more maintenance work. Congestion fuels further carbon emissions.

Cars stuck in traffic produce far more carbon emissions running their engines than cars driving along at normal speed without disruption. But there is also great progress being made in developing and deploying new techniques and technologies that reduce the environmental impact of highways maintenance. In theory, if these initiatives can eliminate practically all of the carbon produced from maintenance activities, this alone would equate to removing as many as 500,000 cars from the road every year. Recycling has become increasingly widespread such as using a 100% recycled aggregate base.

The use of recycled materials significantly reduces the demand for primary aggregates, as well as the need to tip the old material. This ultimately means consuming less energy in production than traditional materials, thereby reducing emissions. But there are no easy answers. Though the total volume of waste countrywide is significant, this waste often arises in small amounts at dispersed sites. While some waste was typically saved for re-use in sub-base and footpaths, historically most was dumped in the absence of a more sustainable way of managing this wasted resource.

More recycling initiatives within the industry, and better understanding, can help to ease this wastage. In the winter, highways depots, spreading vehicles and de-icing agents also contribute to the environmental problem, as does the use of salt, which can damage plants and trees on the verge, cause pollution and change the properties of soil. In this area, the Highways Agency has commissioned research into a more effective salting technique called pre-wetted salt. This uses about 25% less salt plus there is less bouncing of salt to the roadside verge during spreading, thereby less impact on the surrounding environment.

Recycling & Waste

The recycling of material in the highways maintenance industry is growing ever more common. HTMA members are increasingly concerned about their impact on the environment and have strengthened resources in this area, taking steps to reduce their own carbon footprint by raising the level of recycling and waste.

This mirrors a trend that is taking place across the country and in other industry sectors. In some cases, the recovery rate for waste materials from road maintenance is approaching 90%. These wastes are recycled and re-used in ongoing road maintenance work. It means significant volumes of waste are being diverted from landfill sites, while the extraction of virgin materials is avoided, along with additional taxes on landfill and aggregates.

Surfacing Technology

New innovations in road working could also make an impact on the industry's overall carbon footprint. Surface technology that helps preserve the condition of roads for longer periods could play a role. According to surveys conducted by those active in this area these asphalt preservation techniques could ultimately yield massive CO2 savings compared to conventional processes.

The key factor is the lower usage of new asphalt in repair work and the extended life of existing surfaces, though other significant factors include reduced transport and energy impacts. As well as the environmental benefits, by reducing materials consumption and transport requirements, these asphalt sprays and other surfacing techniques can trim costs for both clients and contractors.

The Way Forward

Environmental issues continue to grow in importance for business, with significant focus on climate change and energy consumption, as well as other areas, such as waste management and brownfield regeneration. The highways maintenance industry, as a participant in this global scenario, is already taking a pro-environmental stance by bolstering recycling initiatives and exploring other areas that can make a difference.

The HTMA plans to continue to take an active and leading role in coordinating this industry-wide response to the threats, challenges and opportunities posed by global warming and the environment.