Sustainability

We’ve just completed research showing it’s possible to use vegetable oil to reduce the carbon footprint of bitumen.

Traditionally, roads are built using bitumen which acts as a ‘glue’ holding the road together. Bitumen is by-product of crude oil, so we’ve been looking for a more sustainable option.

Take a look at the video for more details from Sean Bearsley and Orla Gallagher.

We continue to look for ways to protect the environment. We recently completed corrosion protection maintenance on one of our bitumen tanks in Napier Port and painted it a darker colour, as recommended in the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) Energy Transition Accelerator programme. We made the tank ‘Higgins green” to help further reduce the carbon emissions of our already energy efficient bitumen plant.

Higgins is exploring the wider use of biogenic (plant-based) bitumen for building asphalt and chip seal pavements.

Adding plant-based biogenic components to binders used in bitumen can help decarbonize road construction by capturing an increasing amount of carbon in road surfaces or other asphalt-based products as they are recycled and reused over time.

Higgins is hopeful of a successful development in this area, which will extend our contribution towards the Fletcher Construction roadmap for a 30% reduction in carbon emissions and a sustainable future "for generations to come".

Higgins has released an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for Higgins’ asphalt products – a first in the New Zealand roading industry. An EPD tells the environmental story of a product over its life cycle, is science-based and independently verified. The EPD covers 99.5% of Higgins asphalt products produced at their permanent plants in New Zealand, covering the life cycle stages of sourcing and transporting raw materials, product manufacture, and end-of-life options.

To get the EPD, Higgins had to provide energy, waste, water and material data covering production for one year.

Sustainability and Environmental Manager Orla Gallagher says the information is increasingly being requested by customers, who need to work out how using the products affects their own impact on the environment. “EPDs are an internationally-recognised format that customers know they can trust. It’s also a useful tool for us, as it gives us a baseline to work from as we improve our own environmental performance.”

Sitting alongside the EPD, Higgins has a carbon calculator tool to provide customers with a total embodied carbon amount for asphalt mixes covered in the EPD.

Click here to view the EPD.

We’re using a remote control roller in our work to repair one of the major slips in Coromandel (McBeth-Opoutere). We’ve built a retaining wall to support the road above, backfilled it, and the roller has just finished levelling.

The remote control roller is used in areas where we need to flatten ground near any steep drop-offs. This means if something did go wrong and the roller tipped off the edge, none of our people would be hurt in the process.

A few years ago, talking construction workers into hybrids was a tough sell. Now, we can’t order them fast enough! 

We are smashing through our annual targets for replacing our fully petrol and diesel cars, with a final goal of having 100% of our light fleet hybrid or electric by 2026. The only thing holding us back is delays getting them into the country. Hitting our hybrid goals is all part of our overall aim of a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

Higgins National Bitumen Operations Manager Sean Bearsley recently traded his 2.2L diesel for a Hybrid Rav 4 and says the two cars are practically identical. “There’s nothing I can’t do in the new car that I could do in my diesel," he says. It’s taken a bit to get used to the quieter motor though. "A few times I’ve forgotten to turn it off when I get out because it’s so quiet!”

Sean says there used to be a stigma about the hybrid options, but he’s noticed that’s changed significantly in the past few years.

Higgins Christchurch has rolled out their FUSO eCanter electric truck as part of the City Council’s initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Christchurch City Council Resource Efficiency Manager Kevin Crutchley says that with transport making up the majority of the district’s emissions, it was critical to find a path towards zero-exhaust emission trucks, in addition to battery electric passenger cars.

Sean Dowling, Higgins Southern Area Manager, says it's been a privilege to learn about the team's initiative and to discuss it with other companies too. “It’s great to see our business playing our part with our partners TR and FUSO trucks.”