The truth about concrete.

Without de-carbonizing the civil industry, we stand little chance of achieving the Paris goals

In 2016, Australia promised to reduce its emissions from 26 to 28 per cent by 2030.To achieve this goal we should be looking to the most widely used building material on the planet — concrete — as one of the major keys to the solution. Without de-carbonizing the civil industry, we stand little chance of achieving the Paris goals.

The cement industry consumes more concrete every 2 years than all the plastic produced over the past 60 years with the road construction and maintenance sector being one of the worst contributors, consuming concrete and creating carbon waste on a daily basis for repairs.

This violates the Paris agreement on climate change, under which every government in the world agreed that annual carbon emissions from the cement industry should fall by at least 16% by 2030. It also puts a crushing weight on the ecosystems that are essential for human well-being.

Our government road authorities spend millions on recycling concrete waste (but ultimately it still ends up as landfill). Instead of recycling, we can now make concrete foundations making concrete footing re-usable for the entire lifespan of a development.

This violates the Paris agreement on climate change, under which every government in the world agreed that annual carbon emissions from the cement industry should fall by at least 16% by 2030. It also puts a crushing weight on the ecosystems that are essential for human well-being.

"The solution is so simple"

THE SUNDAY TIMES

We can put an end to this consumption

Concrete is strong and can last 100 years but when impacted it is rigid and unforgiving. For hundreds of years, we have been installing vulnerable road-side items directly into concrete, creating a a never-ending cycle of damage and costly repairs, but each bag of concrete tips the world closer to ecological collapse.

Ironically, it is a new-age Smart plastic (made entirely from toxic waste from the production of petroleum) that provides the solution

Future generations will either thank, or condemn us

If we are to achieve our goal of sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Bruntland, UN, 1987) the single most important factor is to design more resilient roads and urban developments and put an end to the on-going consumption of concrete.

With growing world-wide populations concentrated in urban regions, we urgently need to put an end to these resource and dangerous maintenance practices that are putting lives at risk and consuming valuable resources. Without de-carbonizing the civil industry, we stand little chance of achieving the Paris goals.

Current methods provide no future benefit, each year consuming more and more of these vital resources. Recycling concrete is a costly process (and the concrete is ultimately destined for landfill) but to become sustainable we must make concrete foundations re-usable.

We can now build Smart self-healing roads and urban developments and we can heal existing cities one foundation at a time, or we can continue to do business as usual and leave it to future generations (for whom these problems will be intensified) to clean up our mess.

"The solution is so simple"

THE SUNDAY TIMES