The recycled plastic is used to build noise walls in Victoria
In February 2020 in February 2020, the Victorian Government implemented the Recycling Victoria action plan to determine the ways in which the state can reduce wastewhile also increasing recycling and the reuse of materials.
To aid in recycling of plastics Major Roads Projects Victoria (MRPV), Ecologiq, the Department of Transport Victoria (DoT) as well as the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) have collaborated on the development of an updated technical specification for the use of plastic noise walls. The specifications allow an up-to 100% recyclable content it is also an Australian first to have technical documents like this.
This project will allow manufacturers of noise walls to procure material from multiple sources and promote a variety of designs.
There are many benefits of recycling noise walls made of plastic over more conventional materials (including timber, concrete, and steel) such as:
They are also lighter and more secure to put in and maintain.
they are able to be produced in any pattern or colour
greater acoustic efficiency due to the gap created in the panel. And, most important,
The use of recycled post-consumer plastics.
But, the requirements should be taken into consideration when building recycled noise walls, including the acoustics, or sound insulation as the primary purpose behind the noise wall. Performance which includes UV stability, impact resistance as well as fire resistance and graffiti resistance, light reflection and other factors.
Recycling of plastic noise walls has been successfully tested in the Mordialloc Freeway in Melbourne's southeast. The project comprises 11.7 kilometers of noise walls which have an average of 75 percent recycled content. It could be equivalent approximately 30 million bottles of plastic, or trash of 25,000 homes over a year.