Services project aligns with Garden Cities’ Green Building leadership
A 690 metre section of ‘Green’ kerbs and channels for an ensuing servicing project at Garden Cities’ prime west coast suburb, Sunningdale, incorporates 1.63 tonnes of waste plastic converted into a high-performance aggregate which was added to the concrete mix.
The project aligns with Garden Cities’ Green Building programme, that last year won the company top honours (Sustainable City Initiative) at the Big 5 Construction Awards for its highly successful new development, Northridge Coastal Estate, that holds the first 4-star Green Star (Sustainable Precincts v1.1) awarded by the Green Building Council of SA.
The kerb and channel units have been used in a Sunningdale Phase 14 roads and services project, on Burlington Road, Wood Drive and Heritage Drive extensions of the suburb, to provide access to Garden Cities’ Oasis Life Right Facility.
The aggregate, RESIN8™, which can alternatively be used as an additive, was developed by construction materials innovator, CRDC Global, originally established as an outreach programme in Costa Rica, and now with operations internationally.
Abraham Avenant, CEO of CRDC in South Africa, said: “At a five percent replacement of conventional aggregate with RESIN8, each of the kerb blocks absorbed 1,05kg of RESIN8 and each channel unit used 0,92kg.
“So, over the 690m length of the project, a total of 1.36 tonnes of RESIN8 was used, which equates to 1.14 tonnes of used plastic diverted from landfill and/or the environment.
“An empty chip packet weighs about 2 grams, so 1.14 tonnes of plastic waste are therefore equal to about 570 906 empty chip packets. That illustrates how this innovative solution can divert large volumes of mismanaged or unrecyclable plastic waste from landfill and/or the environment.
Renier Smith, Group Manager, Engineering and Planning at Garden Cities, says the company continually explores the use of green building methods, materials and strategies in their suburban developments.
“Garden Cities has previously collaborated with CRDC, during the Rugby World Cup Sevens Tournament in 2022. We added RESIN8 produced from plastic litter collected at the Springboks versus Wales match to a limited run of the Benex building blocks which we use in our BNG (Breaking New Ground) housing programme at Greenville. In a pilot project the blocks were used to build a house at Greenville, with the participation of some of the Blitzbokke.”
