“High degree of reclaimed asphalt”

5,240 kilometers. That is how much asphalt Peab paved in Finland during 2020.  Most of these kilometers were commissioned by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. All of 3,770 kilometers of this asphalt contained reclaimed asphalt pavement.

After years of meager road investments, in 2020 Finland pumped a large amount of funding into the national road network. This meant record volumes for Peab’s paving operations. The newly acquired paving operations ran at full capacity in Finland, paving from Enontekiö in the north to Hanko in the south. In addition to highways and country roads we paved other places such as airports and rally racetracks.

Helsinki has made major investments to get good city streets and Peab Asfalt has been the sole paver. The city has also invested substantially in using reclaimed asphalt pavement.

“We’re really pleased about the growing use of reclaimed asphalt. We’re tearing up a lot of asphalt in the city and the fact that around half of it can be reused on our streets is of course fantastic. On top of that, 35 percent of the asphalt we ordered in 2020 was reclaimed asphalt pavement,” says Heikki Laristo, Project Manager at Helsinki City Construction Services, Stara.

Peab has also continued the work to increase the portion of reclaimed asphalt in production. In 2020 it amounted to almost 30 percent. This means that more than a fourth of the total asphalt volume comes from previously used asphalt which has been processed and then either been put back into production or mixed with new asphalt right on roads.

“We usually say that almost all asphalt can be recycled. The higher degree of reuse, the less virgin resources we need to use. This leads to lower carbon dioxide emissions. A high level of recycling together with more environmentally friendly heating in production has a very positive effect on the environment,” says Markku Lilja, Head of Peab Asfalt in Finland.

“We’re really pleased about the growing use of reclaimed asphalt pavement. We’re tearing up a lot of asphalt in the city and the fact that around half of it can be reused on our streets is of course fantastic.”

Heikki Laristo, Project Manager at Helsinki City Construction Services, Stara