Buy Recycled Champion: Shane Cutland

After graduating from civil engineering in 2017 I worked in a number of roles in private consulting, private contracting, state government and now in local government with Manningham Council. Throughout that time I have been working out what being a civil engineer means to me and, over the last 12 to 18 months, I have been personally focused on progressing sustainability through my work.

This experience in a range of different settings and roles has given me a solid oversight of how each of these areas work and their priorities and differences. I have found local government to be a great setting to be able to have real impact on sustainability and the team at Manningham are really supportive of this.

Approximately 80% of my role is focused on road programs including road resurfacing. There are inherently a lot of ‘sustainability’ opportunities for roads including using recycled content. As an engineer I like to focus on both including recycled content in the road but also maintaining performance of road products as this also has a big impact on sustainability. In my role I undertake research and learn about potential products containing recycled content, particularly those that meet and exceed performance requirements and have often been tried and tested. This research includes getting in touch with other councils who have used a product and reading case studies.

When undertaking this research, I ensure that I document the evidence to justify why I have made the decision to use the product. This can be helpful when obtaining the support of management as they know due diligence has been undertaken.

My approach to date has been to progressively look for opportunities to add recycled content into projects after doing my research and due diligence on a product.

Manningham Council is currently considering permeable pavement containing recycled content. To support this I advised those involved about potential suppliers of this product and maintenance requirements. I attended the ecologiQ conference last year where I learnt about interesting suppliers of recycled products including suppliers of permeable pavement. I was able to pass on the information I gathered through chatting with suppliers and undertaking site visits at the Buy Recycled Champions launch event to the team at Manningham.

When I commenced at Manningham a number of long term road infrastructure contracts were in place. Fortunately, the line items in these contracts contained enough flexibility in terms of mix design etc. to enable me to try using recycled products in a range of low risk local road applications. Manningham Council gave contractors the opportunity to put forward sustainable products in the asphalt contract.

My advice to other councils who may be preparing a long term contract is to ensure that they build some flexibility into the line items for current or new products that come into the market to be used. Therefore, a rework of the contract wouldn’t be required which can be very costly and time consuming.

• Recycled content in asphalt and pavement (crushed rock under roads and footpaths).
• Recycled content in concrete (slag and fly ash) that meet VicRoads specifications.

I think there will always be ongoing opportunities as new products come on the market and move from being trialled, to being assessed by council and then becoming business as usual.

I will continue to research new products coming onto the market and liaise with other councils about what they are using through the Buy Recycled Champions program, reading case studies and business cases and other research articles.

I believe there are lots of opportunities for recycled plastics to be used in non-structural applications such as pedestrian bollards in shared user path settings and glass, concrete and brick to be used in structural applications such as road base when blended with recycled crushed concrete and brick.

There are opportunities for Manningham Council to incorporate flexibility into upcoming contracts to allow for the use of emerging materials into the future.

It is challenging to allocate time amongst my other work priorities to undertake a lot of the research on the performance and cost of recycled products to justify their use over traditional products. If the recycled product is more expensive that presents a whole other challenge to find the budget and justification to use it. At this stage, I’ve been focusing on recycled products that have the same performance and price of traditional products.

I love the Macedon Ranges area with its cool climate and crisp air. I can recommend Macedon Regional Park which has lovely bushwalks and natural surroundings suited to a day trip or weekend away.