M80 Upgrade leading the way in sustainability

The Sydney Road to Edgars Road section of the M80 Upgrade has been leading the way in sustainability, recently becoming the first major road project in Victoria to include recycled content in every layer of the road pavement, with recycled materials comprising more than 66% of the road’s composition. 

Major construction on this $518 million section of the M80 Ring Road will be completed a year ahead of schedule, with the 4 kilometre stretch between Sydney Road and Edgars Road now open to traffic in both directions.  

Among the M80 Upgrade’s other remarkable sustainability initiatives, more than 400,000 tonnes of material exported from the project have been recycled or gone to reuse facilities instead of landfill, while 51,000 tonnes of recycled pavement materials have been used in the project works, including 14 tonnes of reclaimed asphalt. 

The equivalent of 35.5 million plastic bags has been reused during the project which otherwise would have ended up in landfill, along with the equivalent of more than 22 million glass bottles, 800,000 toner cartridges and 820 passenger car tyres. 

The project has also utilised more than 3.5 tonnes of eMesh, an Australian-made product comprised of 100% recycled plastic, which replaces traditional steel mesh and non-recycled plastic fibres to reduce plastic waste that ends up in landfill. 

The completion of this section of the upgrade means the M80 Ring Road has now been widened between Ballarat Road, Ardeer, and Plenty Road, Bundoora – a 28km stretch of the freeway.

Find out more about the M80 Upgrade.