Sustainability was front of mind at the IQA’s Victorian branch spring technical night, which featured a site tour of Alex Fraser’s Epping facility and a keynote speech from Kayasand’s Frank Grech.
IQA members from across Australia visited Alex Fraser’s Northern Sustainable Supply Hub, which contains a high-volume construction and demolition recycling facility, a new rock crushing plant, and a Benninghoven asphalt plant.
The asphalt plant produces high-recycled content asphalt mixes containing up to 70 per cent recycled materials, including reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), glass sand, recycled tyre products, and plastics.
Alex Fraser general manager of recycling Murray Butterworth provided an overview of the company’s supply offerings, including its commitment to compliance, competitiveness, and sustainability.
The company has recovered and recycled more than 58 million tonnes of concrete, brick, rock, asphalt and glass to produce high-quality, high-specification, recycled products needed to build greener roads, rail, bridges, pipelines and ports.
Following the site tour, attendees learnt more about how engineered sand can improve supply chain security for Australian construction.
“Victoria, in particular, can see a natural sand shortage on the horizon,” Grech told Quarry at the event.
“It’s getting more difficult to access these sands, so the industry needs to look for alternatives.”
Kayasand’s innovative Kemco V7 technology enables quarries to engineer sand of such high quality, it completely removes the need to use natural sand in concrete. The ability to precisely control the shape, grading, contamination and consistency of the sand enables quarries to play a critical role in the construction industry’s path to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Grech said that for concrete plants, engineered sand makes stronger concrete that uses less cement and has lower carbon emissions.
“For quarries it means greater utilisation of crusher dust, lower costs and ‘washing without water’,” he said.
“The result is a profitable and sustainable alternative to natural sand.”
Grech has worked extensively in crushing and screening, contract negotiation and business development, previously holding senior roles at Holcim Australia and Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology. He is also a director and ambassador at the IQA.
“The IQA supports the industry in total – from processing to safety, diversity, resources and more,” he said.
“These networking events are important. They provide us with an opportunity to share our knowledge, learn about new technologies, and rediscover the value of existing ones.”
The event also included a presentation about rockbreaking technology, delivered by Michael Baumann, Breakers and Attachments’ Victorian branch manager.
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