Oral Presentation Transform 2021 - Public Works Conference

AAPA's Sustainability Framework for Asphalt (SF4A) embedding sustainability in asphalt procurement (#12)

Rob Rouwette 1 , Robert Vos 2
  1. start2see, Hawthorn East, VIC, Australia
  2. Australian Asphalt Pavement Association, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

There is a drive for sustainability in the roads sector. Purchasing policies at Federal, State and Local Government level have already begun setting criteria and expectations for project evaluations. The asphalt sector welcomes the increasing attention for sustainability initiatives and the role it can play providing solutions to society, and recognizes the benefits of a consistent approach across projects and jurisdictions. This has resulted in the Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA) “Sustainability Framework for Asphalt (SF4A)”, which considers a broad range of sustainability aspects across social and environmental themes. 

The SF4A aims to be useful to road construction projects of all sizes and enables clients and asphalt producers to align their sustainability efforts. 

Since February 2019, three components of the SF4A have been developed and are part of the implementation phase due for completion by March 2020. The result is a toolkit that guides point-based assessment of Plant, Organisation and Road Project, allowing for ranking of performance.

The presentation will introduce the SF4A and explain how it:

  • Provides a framework for assessing and ranking bituminous product organisations, plants and products
  • Allows stakeholders to set qualitative and quantifiable sustainability criteria
  • Facilitates adoption of best-practice (in sustainability) in the bituminous products sector
  • Aims to continually improve the use of sustainable products, processes and organisations (i.e. through energy and GHG reductions, increased use of RAP and other secondary materials / waste resources)
  • Can be used on smaller road projects that make use of asphalt, allowing for clear and balanced selection and assessment of asphalt contractors and their asphalt supply chain.

With the support of industry and road authorities, the SF4A provides an important toolkit for the open and transparent evaluation of key sustainability indicators in the procurement of road projects. Consequently, this will accelerate the asphalt sector’s drive to best practice.