Highways industry turns vegetarian

摘要

Causes to consider alternative materials for maintaining pavements are growing in number - led by a push for more sustainable procurement and driven by rising crude oil prices. One such product developed to provide a more sustainable alternative to bitumen and petroleum resin binders is Vegecol -an entirely vegetable based material. The product has been developed by Colas and contains not a single hydrocarbon from refining oil, which breaks the link between highway maintenance processes and oil - its price and its carbon footprint. According to Colas, use of Vegecol lowers asphalt mix temperature by as much as 40 degrees, leading to a reduction in fuel consumption and emissions from a production plant.