Supporting Local Authorities to achieve carbon neutrality

Miles Macadam is leading the way in the surfacing industry by becoming one of the first surfacing SMEs to become carbon neutral. Our aim is now to encourage responsible and sustainable best practice across the entire industry.

Leading the way in sustainable solutions is not just a positive step in tackling climate change, we believe it is in everyone’s best interests.  Having become Carbon Neutral, Miles Macadam want to take this further and offset all projects undertaken for its clients. It’s also our ambition to use this knowledge and expertise to help Local Authorities offset other conventional surfacing projects.

Our solution

Miles Macadam have developed an accredited Carbon Calculator to accurately identify the carbon footprint of an individual project or contract and enable it to be offset accordingly. The client receives a certified and auditable record of their sustainable work practice.  Sharing our solution with Local Authorities demonstrates and reinforces our company’s commitment to face up to the challenges of climate change.

Benefits of the carbon calculator

  • Promotes understanding of resource use.
  • Positive impact on climate change.
  • Enable projects to be offset.
  • Provides a certified and auditable record of sustainable work practices.

Making the change together

The EU is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.  With considerable momentum behind the global objective of reducing carbon emissions, many UK local authorities have pledged to reach this goal by 2030 or earlier.

Despite having a powerful framework for reducing the UK’s carbon emissions in the form of the Climate Change Act 2008, there is no statutory duty for Local Authorities to develop plans and reduce emissions.  Lack of guidance and absence of carbon budgets imposed from Central Government makes it difficult for local councils to react.  That is where we can help – by working collaboratively to achieve this aim.

Reducing our own environmental impact 

An environmental impact review of our manufacturing and surfacing processes identified several benefits of our Grouted Macadams as a substitute for conventional surfacing materials.

  • Our products have significantly lower mixing temperatures (up to 40°lower) than traditional materials such as SMA or HRA, allowing our products to be classified as ‘warm mixes’.
  • The design mix of our receiving course has a lower resource use than close graded products.
  •  Lower production and laying temperatures result in carbon savings of up to 30% and an overall reduction in the use of fossil fuels during the manufacturing process.
  • Grouted Macadams require no additives to improve mobility and performance of the support coats, in either winter or summer.

These factors, combined with a Grouted Macadams’ high end performance and longevity significantly reduce their long term environmental impact – a huge positive when assessing its overall Carbon Footprint.

Get in touch

To discover how we can support your project to achieve net zero carbon emissions, please visit: https://www.milesmacadam.co.uk/

08 Sep 2020

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