Tarmac used nearly a million tonnes of recycled asphalt planings (RAP) in 2023, according to its latest sustainability report.
During the year, the materials and construction supplier also launched its roadmap to net zero and formally signed up to parent company CRH’s commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% against a 2021 baseline by 2030.
In total, Tarmac utilised over 980,000 tonnes of RAP in 2023 and at the close of the year had achieved a 32% reduction in CO2 per tonne of product, compared to a 1990 baseline, categorised into direct and indirect sources in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Last year, Tarmac reported that it had achieved a 35% reduction per tonne of product in 2022.
Sustainability director Emma Hines said: ‘As a business we are fully committed to ensuring sustainability remains central to everything we do.
‘We equally recognise our responsibility for working collaboratively with our customers to develop solutions that help create a more sustainable built environment.’
The Thornborough Henges are thought to be the inspiration for modern dumbell junctions
Tarmac said it had planted over 31,000 trees in 2023, compared to 19,951 planted during the previous year.
In February 2023, the business gifted two Neolithic henge monuments in North Yorkshire, described as ’the Stonehenge of the North’, to Historic England and English Heritage.
The company also highlighted what it said were the lowest carbon roads ever to be resurfaced in the UK, delivered in partnership with Hartlepool Borough Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, providing a reduction in carbon emissions of up to 80% compared to traditional methods.
The UK’s first all-electric ready-mix concrete mixer was successfully trialled during the year and is now in full operation. Tarmac said this is expected to save 42 tonnes of CO2 annually, with zero emissions (tailpipe) per mile compared to 1.55kg of CO2 per mile for its fossil fuel equivalent.