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Sustainable modern solutions for age-old engineering tasks
1 May 2018
Old truck tyres being used to shore-up difficult construction sites may not initially present as a natural link.
Yet that is exactly what a TSA accredited recycler has been doing. Creating, amongst other solutions, cost effective and quick to construct retaining walls that address the engineering challenge of turning sloping sites into multiple flat levels and that can keep large bodies of soil in place.
Ecoflex Systems, based in central New South Wales, has been successfully employing recycled truck tyres as the central component of retaining walls that deliver greater stability than traditional construction plus offering a far longer operational life.
An E Wall, as Ecoflex names them, is constructed in an overlapping crib-like pattern. E Walls can be either gravity or reinforced soil retaining walls and consist of truck tyres that have had the sidewalls removed that are then filled with crushed rock.
In such applications, the E Walls deliver superior structural strength, particularly for high walls, whilst still retaining all the properties of more expensive and difficult to construct retaining walls. In addition, E walls allow for excellent drainage and even greater stability in unstable soil conditions. Of course, E Walls meet all Australian standards for retaining walls.
Other benefits of the Ecoflex Systems walls are the ability to be constructed in a modular fashion, allowing for far less site disruption, and to be covered in sprayed concrete, or other cosmetic facings, to fit in with the architectural requirements of the project. Further environmental benefit is derived from the walls being reusable, in new configurations, at the end of the life of a given site.
E Walls have been successfully installed at domestic and commercial sites and Ecoflex has used its patented recycled tyre construction technology in other applications, such as forming bases for road and rail in damp and unstable ground, certified crane platforms, hard stand areas, piling platforms, pavement sub-base stabilisation and for erosion protection in waterways, drains and spillways.
Ecoflex’s innovations have introduced new options for engineers. Options that can be even more effective in solving perennial construction challenges whilst addressing an important modern recycling need. Beneficial outcomes TSA is keen to promote through its ongoing market development program.