RMIT University teamed up with Macedon Ranges Shire Council to conduct a world-first coffee concrete footpath trial. Video via RMIT Melbourne.
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00:00 So there's a big challenge of organic waste ending up in landfills.
00:03 It's about 6.87 million tons and is responsible for about 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
00:09 That's where our research team was focusing on to transform this waste into a valuable resource for the construction industry.
00:16 Additional challenge is the resource, natural sand that we use for concrete is getting scarce over time.
00:22 And this waste can take its place.
00:25 Now we have replaced up to 15% of our sand with this waste material.
00:30 So that reduces the reliance of continuous mining of this sand that is getting scarce over time.
00:36 We have tried two different biochars.
00:38 One is wood biochar and the second coffee biochar.
00:41 And we have replaced up to 15% of sand with the coffee biochar and up to 10% with the wood biochar.
00:47 But a significant increase in strength.
00:49 Specifically with the coffee biochar we have seen up to 30% increase in concrete strength.
00:53 It's very exciting to see a world first trial of our coffee and wood based biochar in these footpaths in collaboration with Macedon Shire Ranges Council.
01:01 We're taking those experiments and putting them in ground and in the field today.
01:05 We're going to have people walking across the concrete that includes these products.
01:09 RMIT is going to be coming back and doing testing to see how they stand up.
01:12 Despite the fact that we're using coffee grounds and mulch in the concrete,
01:15 residents are not going to see any difference and neither are they going to smell any difference in this product.
01:20 We are currently working in the supply chain sector so that we can make this research into a mainstream product for the commercial applications.
01:29 And we are not only looking into coffee, we are expanding this into all forms of different organic waste.
01:33 It's really important for Council to be involved in projects such as this and to be working closely hand in hand with universities such as RMIT.
01:41 This not only helps improve the knowledge level of our contractors and our staff,
01:45 but it also has lots of other benefits and benefits that are important to our community.
01:50 This includes helping the environment, acting sustainably and most importantly, reducing waste to landfill and having a circular economy.
01:59 (upbeat music)
02:01 (bell chimes)