A plan to transition the Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council’s self-regulated Trillium Awards into a third-party certification process is moving into high gear, attendees at the OAPC’s recent annual fall seminar in Mississauga learned.
Based on stringent criteria, the Trillium Awards recognize asphalt plants that adhere to high operational standards such as appearance, safety and environmental measures. They are granted for a three-year period, at which point the plant must apply for re-certification. Submissions are judged by the council’s plant and paving committee and the recipients are formally recognized at the annual seminar.
But about a year-and-a-half ago the OAPC began considering the benefits of third-party certification and then created a special committee to study the advantages and disadvantages.
Early this year it hired Corfinium Solutions Inc. to develop a “framework” on how certification can be achieved, said Doubra Ambaiowei, technical services director for the Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA) and the council.
Expected to be implemented next March, third-party certification would have the potential to expand the scope of the awards and promote increased buy-in from customers, owners and ORBA/OAPC’s own members, he said.
Without divulging too many details, Ambaiowei hinted “more light would be shone” on the certification progress at ORBA’s annual general meeting this coming February at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.
Developing third-party certification falls under the umbrella of Quality Priorities, one of five 2024 priorities that have guided the OAPC’s direction during this year, he said.
At the beginning of each year OAPC’s directors lay out a set of priorities and then “tweaks” that list in August. Besides quality, this year’s other priorities were: sustainability; codes/standards/regulations/specifications; research and education; advocacy and stakeholder relations.
In summarizing those priorities under their respective headings, Ambaiowei said Ontario is on a “continuing quest” to advance the role of mix performance testing through what is known as the Balanced Mix Design concept.
That was one of the topics under discussion at this year’s Asphalt Technical Symposium which he co-chairs. Sponsored by the OAPC, the symposium is an annual event where a broad cross-section of representatives from the Ministry of Transportation, OAPC, academia, suppliers, road contractors, researchers, refineries and other industry players discuss issues affecting the industry.
Focusing on the sustainability goal, Ambaiowei said the OAPC is keen on developing a sustainability plan to meet the federal government’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Its environment committee has begun the groundwork for the plan.
As well, through a co-operative partnership with the National Research Council, ORBA/OAPC has engaged WAP Sustainability LLC to scope out the procedures for developing Environmental
Product Declarations for asphalt mixtures. It is also working with the Ministry of Environment Conservations and Parks on a consistent approach for estimating silica emissions from aggregates to promote “a level playing field and consistency” in the Environmental Compliance Approval process for asphalt plants.
Another important priority is to encourage the province and municipalities to optimize the use of reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP) and warm mix asphalt.
To that end, the council is in “very tentative discussions” with York Region to conduct a high-RAP warm mix trial pave-in demonstration sometime in 2025.
The objective of the trial would be to demonstrate that it’s possible to design, produce and place surface- and intermediate-type Superpave mixtures without compromising a number of pavement characteristics and performance, he said.
In the priority area of codes and regulations, two OAPC committees are working and participating in the development, review and harmonization of “achievable” industry-wide specifications and regulations.
Focusing on achievements in research and education, Ambaiowei cited OAPC’s support for the third round of the Ontario-Mix Asphalt Program performance testing studies.
Designed to identify improvements to binder and mixture testing methods, this work is being carried by the Ontario Asphalt Expert Task Group. It is comprised of a mix of industry and academic representatives.
The overall objective of all these studies and initiatives is that the OAPC wants to drive home the message “that the asphalt industry can be trusted.”
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