Sustainability
An accepted definition for ‘sustainability’ describes development which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Although there are no specific requirements in the OC contracts, the issue of sustainability is being developed by all parties. PAG has reported on this topic to highlight the good work being carried out by the OCs.
4.1 Sustainability and Scotland’s trunk roads
In the past year, sustainability in trunk road maintenance has flourished in Scotland. This has been encouraged by Transport Scotland and PAG, with all of the OCs seeking to promote sustainable development from the design and planning stage through to carrying out work on the network.
Figure 44 shows the different elements of sustainability.
All four OCs have made significant progress in developing sustainable practices. PAG considers further improvements are still possible, especially in the collection and reporting of data such as energy use and waste volumes. Analysis of this data by the OCs will highlight trends, enabling forward planning, cost savings and benchmarks to be set for continuous improvement.
All OCs recycle road planings in some form. These are reused in constructing haul roads and hardstandings, cutting the need for aggregate extraction and reducing energy consumption.
From PAG’s review of the OCs’ sustainability practices over the past year, it was evident they have differing views of the meaning of sustainability and how they prioritise the various contributory factors.
Transport Scotland is working with PAG and the OCs to define sustainability in relation to trunk road maintenance with the intention of establishing a common practice in gathering data. This will allow monitoring sustainability across the network to be consistent, achievable and provide results which can be benchmarked against similar operations.
The aim of this work is to promote continuous improvement in a way that is reasonable, without stifling innovation.
Examples of good practice
NE – BEAR
BEAR has started to use a proprietary method, which is a blend of chemically modified natural plant fibres from renewable sources, to treat oil and chemical spills in its depots and on site.
The material is spread over the spillage and when the contaminant has been completely absorbed, the material is lifted and filtered in the purpose designed bin, see figure 45. After filtering, most of the absorbent material can be reused up to eight times, reducing the waste that goes to landfill.
