Since its first use in 2017 the technology incorporated into Fibercon’s Emesh product has been used by councils predominantly in footpaths, but also has applications from pavement concrete to channel drains, embankment erosion control, precast sewer and stormwater pits.
According to a report prepared for the Department of Environment & Energy in 2016 Australia averages 107kg of plastic waste per person each year. "So we have effectively recycled the plastic waste for 467 Australians," explained Fibercon CEO Mark Combe.
Steel reinforcement in concrete – or rebar – was first introduced in the mid 18th century as a means of improving the tensile strength of concrete, and is now the most commonly used form of concrete.
With concrete use at approx. 1m3 per person, Australia uses 25 million m3 of concrete per year. Conservatively, 5% is footpath and light pavements - equating to 1.25million m3. "If we replaced all the steel mesh in these pavements with Emesh, we would reduce our CO2 by 125,000 tons annually, and re-use 5,000 tons of waste plastic", said Mark. "It’s an exciting goal for us."
Worldwide around 1.6 billion tons of steel is produced per year, making steelmaking one of the world’s leading industrial sources of greenhouse gases. It is also heavily dependent on the use of fossil fuels and water. The process makes steel from iron ore by heating it with carbon – predominantly coal; carbon dioxide is produced as a by-product. Production of a ton of steel generates almost two tons of CO2 emissions, accounting for as much as 5 per cent of the world’s total greenhouse-gas emissions.
By using the recycled plastic technology Fibercon has also seen a reduction to date of 1,000 tons of CO2, 200 tons of fossil fuels reduction, and a 18,000 m3 of water reduction. "According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency calculations, the reductions we have achieved in CO2 emissions, are the equivalent of taking 214 passenger cars off the road for 1 year," stated Mark.
"Plastic fibres in concrete have been around for twenty years – what is new about our product is that it is 100% recycled. The intention is to do something to give back, to close the cycle of useless waste," explained Mark.
With increasing recognition by Local, State and Federal governments of the need for sustainable building practices, Emesh is seen as a solution which contributes to the ever-growing quest for carbon neutrality and reduced environmental impacts.
Mark Combe, Fibercon CEO
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: (04) 1464-7077
Website: www.fibercon.com.au; www.emesh.com.au
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcombe/
For Photo see: http://emesh.com.au/media.php
Mark Combe (BE Civil ’87 UNSW, MIE, MIPENZ, RPEQ,) established Fibercon in 1996, and specialises in Macro Poly and Steel Fibre Reinforcing of Concrete in infrastructure, footpaths, cycleways, small precast units, roundabouts, and mining applications. Fibercon want to help the construction industry simplify their processes, whilst saving time and money. In 2015 Fibercon were recognised with a prestigious Shell and Australian Department of Industry, Innovation & Science Innovation Challenge Award for their development of a recycled macro-plastic fibre reinforcing made entirely from industrial plastic wastes. Mark was also awarded the Top 50 Most Innovative Engineers in 2017. Fibercon was the industry sponsor of a three-year PhD program at James Cook University to develop Emesh - whose fibres can reinforce concrete in footpaths, cycleways, shotcrete and small precast elements. The company also tested its Macro Poly and Steel fibres with researchers at UNSW. ---
