Currently, Whatcom County’s two regional solid waste management companies accept toilets for a small fee and provide them for future Poticrete installations. This use, along with other options for recycled aggregate, will help the city include more than 400 tons of recycled materials in concrete alone in street projects each year, Freeman points out.

Poticrete in action. The Poticrete mix is being poured here

“This is a situation where everyone wins,” he says. “This project and this use of toilets is an example of the strategic risks that public agencies need to take in this day and age to encourage local markets that support recycled materials and more sustainable road projects.”

This project received the first GreenRoads certification, according to Freeman.

Be sure to check out Equipment World’s (EW) sister publications, Better Roads and Aggregates Manager, either in print on the Web or in their digital editions (It’s very cool, just like EW’s digital edition — it flips just like a magazine), in the July 2012 issue.

(The photos for this blog post were courtesy of Anthony Freeman, P.E., with the Public Works Department for the City of Bellingham, Wash.)