GRT's Expertise and Learnings Can Help Address the BushFire Crisis In Australia

QLD based Global Road Technology (GRT) is reaching out to the community to share news of their work and learnings over the years. They hope that this news will encourage many parties to join hands in the ongoing environmental efforts to address the bushfire crisis in Australia.

The recent wildfires have left Australia absolutely devastated in multiple ways, and a number of companies—Global Road Technology among them—have risen up to try and offer their help. This year saw Australia face a severely hot and dry spell, which meant Australia’s annual ‘fire season’ was going to be potentially much riskier than in previous years. This resulted in a series of massive bushfires that have been ravaging Australia for weeks. Over 60 million hectares have burned so far, and fires keep springing up.

The fires have caused damage to property, claimed lives and destroyed much of Australia’s flora and fauna. The fires have also had an indirect effect on Australia, causing dust storms that are currently wreaking havoc across the country. Recently, it has also begun raining, which has had the effect of bringing some measure of relief to the country. Unfortunately, however, the rains are also causing sediment, ash and debris from the dust storms and fires to be washed into waterways, creating sediment and erosion problems across affected areas.

Global Road Technology is an international engineering technology company that focuses on providing innovative products and solutions for the mining, civil, agricultural, land development and environmental management sectors. GRT are specialists in dust suppression, soil stabilization, erosion control and water management. Their industry leading technology has been proven to drive process efficiency, deliver sustainable infrastructure, improve community health and safety, and other environmental outcomes. They recently lent their tools and expertise to help with erosion and sediment control initiatives and more during the New Zealand Nelson bush fires in 2019, and they are available to contribute to the ongoing efforts in Australia.

“The fire was so intense that a state of emergency was declared in the Nelson-Tasman areas as it raged across some 2300ha (5700 acres) with a 25km radius,” says GRT when highlighting the New Zealand Nelson bushfires. “Roughly 3,000 people were evacuated from the Wakefield and Pigeon Valley areas on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand. Any remaining root mass in the soil had been destroyed, and the soil had become hydrophobic, so any significant rain would have caused large scale erosion. Rob Coulson and his team at RST Environmental Solutions (NZ) were tasked to come up with an erosion control system that would stop sediment getting into the waterways and the sea, and GRT: Enviro-Binder was the product chosen.”

Global Road Technology has played a critical role in helping alleviate the effects of this ecological disaster. The company’s assistance has been instrumental in facilitating the recovery of the areas affected most heavily by the fires in New Zealand. Using GRT: Enviro Binder, a non-toxic and environmentally friendly product RST Environmental Solutions and GRT were successful in their efforts to rehabilitate the environment.

The learnings have recently been shared through the peak industry body, the International Erosion Control Association (IECA) newsletter. Those interested can also check out the case study on GRT's website. GRT wanted to spread the news further that it has the technologies, skills and experience necessary to be able to help in the next stage of erosion control and land rehabilitation in Australia.