In line with guidance from Zero Waste Scotland, Tayside Contracts strongly adheres to the waste hierarchy. Effective waste prevention and management are our top priorities.
Waste identification and minimisation is key to the success of Tayside Contracts. Direction is given from the Business Plan and Climate Change Plan.
The Construction Division Waste Management Strategy sets out the specific plan and direction in detail with the following highlights demonstrating action.
Since 2004 Tayside Contracts have had a network of recycling centres to process its road maintenance waste into products suitable to incorporate back into its construction projects.
Recycling Centres are located throughout our operating area;
All materials produced for sale are manufactured in accordance with the Specification for Highway works;
All recycling by products that cannot be manufactured into a product are diverted from landfill with suitable uses negotiated with local supply chain partners
Tayside Contracts operate three water treatment facilities to process gully waste (road-side drains). These systems work by letting the larger solid particles sink in a settlement tank, we then filter the water over a series of straw bales. The ‘dirty’ water flows through a series of beds containing plant life designed to clean / remove nasties. Our water is sampled and tested regularly to ensure we comply to set standards.
Not only does the process reduce our carbon footprint, the natural reedbed process attracts a variety of wildlife ranging from reed buntings and ducks, small mammals, and an array of insects, arachnids and other invertebrates. Reedbeds are located at the following sites.
Tayset© is a cold mix paving system that was developed in partnership with The University of Dundee in conjunction with Nynas AB.
This process has the following positive attributes;
Tayset© is laid as per conventional hot material through a paving machine or by hand and enhances on-site operational performance with reduced waiting and material waste.
Taydress is a paving system that utilises Tayset© with surface dressing as a surface course delivering environmental savings through construction time and reduced material resource. As with all surface dressing systems, work needs to be carried out
Tayside Contracts' suite of proprietary surface course products deliver more for less, increasing durability while reducing pavement thickness. Our range uses quarry dust which is a by-product of crushing rock into graded aggregates. Replacing sand with quarry dust re-uses otherwise waste products, reducing the use of natural resources.