Boral Asphalt Carrington
The Boral Asphalt Carrington plant, located in the industrial inner suburbs of Newcastle, supplies road and other surfacing solutions to customers across the Greater Hunter region, and as far away as the Upper Hunter Valley and Mid North Coast of NSW.
Please note this site is not open to the public. All sales and product enquiries may only be directed to 02 8801 2000, or you can send an online request.
24 Gross Street
Carrington NSW 2294
Australia
About Boral Asphalt Carrington
Boral's asphalt plant at Carrington, an inner suburb of Newcastle, is one of the Asphalt business' key manufacturing facilities in NSW.
It has been producing road and other surfacing solutions for customers across the Greater Hunter region and beyond since planning approval was first received for the plant in 1980.
The current plant was opened in 2014 following completion of a three year, $3.5 million program to upgrade the original facility.
This upgrade allowed production capacity to be increased to around 180 tonnes of asphalt per hour (up to 150 000 tonnes per year), with associated substantial improvements in environmental outputs and energy use.
Asphalt is produced at Carrington using hard rock aggregates sourced from Boral's Seaham Quarry north of Raymond Terrace, and fine sand from the organisation's Stockton Quarry at Fullerton Cove, in combination with bitumen and other components.
The plant is also capable of using Recycled Asphalt Product (RAP) in production at a rate of around 30 percent of input material volume.
Positioned just off Industrial Drive in a neighbourhood which also includes the Port Waratah Coal Services facility and loader, the plant's central location has been leveraged to support a number of key projects throughout the Newcastle metropolitan area.
These have included the surfacing of the V8 Supercars circuit in the Newcastle CBD when it was created in 2017 ahead of the first racing.
In more recent years, Carrington Asphalt's role has expanded to take in works as far away as the Central Coast, Upper Hunter Valley and Mid North Coast on critical routes such as the Pacific and New England Highways.
Boral Asphalt Carrington provides employment for six on-site staff, with up to 15 heavy vehicle drivers also working from the site in transport of both raw materials for manufacturing and final products.
Modification: Production Additives (Aug 2020)
As with many other industries, Boral Asphalt and our customers increasingly seek ways to make products and the processes which produce them more sustainable.
For asphalt, this improved sustainability is being guided by changes to the specifications customers set for the products we supply.
These specifications are linked to important aspects of road construction such as the durability of the finished surface, and skid resistance afforded to vehicles using the road.
Specifications also vary by road type. A freeway might have more exacting specifications for its surfacing than a local street or road.
Boral Asphalt's main customers in NSW include Transport for NSW (TfNSW), the state authority responsible for building of and maintenance on most major motorways and highways, and local Councils.
In recent years, both customer groups have sought to lead the way in sustainability and accordingly have changed specifications to require a range of additives derived from recycled and reprocessed materials to be used in their works.
Our Carrington plant is already capable of integrating recycled asphalt product (RAP) into production (see Environmental Management).
To meet our customers' new direction, we're now also looking at adding crumbed rubber and glass sand as additives into our manufacturing processes.
Crumbed rubber is simply made from old vehicle tyres shredded down to a usable size, with components such as steel and fibre removed along with any dust, rock or glass present. The crumbed rubber intended to be used at Carrington is sourced from a company in Victoria.
Glass sand is a combination of crushed recycled glass and portions of crushed sandstone or excavated sand. The mix to be used at Carrington will be prepared at Boral's Kooragang Recycling facility.
Each of the additives are made out of waste materials which otherwise would have been destined for landfill. They are also easily incorporated into the products for which Boral is best known, such as asphalt and concrete.
In order to be able to use the additives in manufacturing, we're required to apply to the City of Newcastle Council for a modification to the plant's existing planning consent.
Under the application, we'll seek approval to bring up to 200 tonnes per year of crumbed rubber and 2000 tonnes of glass sand to our Carrington site for use in production.
No other changes will be required to the site's existing operating conditions to facilitate the use of additives. We're expecting to submit our application to Council during August for asessment.
During this process, we welcome any feedback or questions from anyone with an interest in our Carrington site. You can send us an email and we'll respond as soon as we're able.
General Approvals
Boral Asphalt Carrington is operated to a development consent (DA2012/665) granted by the City of Newcastle Council for the upgrade of the site undertaken during 2012-14.
The consent sets out the operating, environmental and reporting conditions the plant must comply with throughout its operational life.
Two modifications to this consent have been subsequently sought and approved. Boral is currently seeking a third to allow the use of additives in asphalt production (see Modification: Production Additives).
Operations
To find out more about how Boral operates its network of asphalt plants, you can visit our About Asphalt page.
Environmental Management
An environmental management system (EMS) is in place at Boral Asphalt Carrington which provides details of controls implemented to address relevant environmental aspects and potential effects of the site.
The EMS incorporates the arrangements for water management, noise control, air quality control, hazardous materials management and waste management.
Recycled Asphalt Product (RAP)
With the constant need to improve sustainability and conserve our natural resources, Boral Asphalt's product range increasingly makes use of recycled asphalt product (RAP).
RAP is produced when the still usable parts of a former road surface (profilings) are crushed and screened, creating a reuasable material which can be substituted into new asphalt production.
Making use of RAP means a reduced need for the supply of raw materials needed for manufacturing, such as hard rock aggregates and fine/excavated sands.
The quality of the RAP and the capabilities of each individual plant determine how much can be used in production.
Presently Boral Asphalt Carrington can use up to 30 percent of RAP in making its asphalt - this is a figure which the business is working hard to increase.
NSW Protection of the Environment Legislation Amendment Act 2011
Boral Asphalt Carrington has reporting obligations under the NSW Protection of the Environment Legislation Amendment Act 2011.
This Act applies to sites which operate under an Environmental Protection Licence (EPL) and requires the provision of public access to pollution reporting data. You can access this data here.