Polymer Modified Bitumens (Hansard, 18 July 1989)

§ Mr. Barry Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list those county councils which specify polymer modified bitumens.

§ Mr. Peter Bottomley
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
91W

§ Mr. Barry Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the inability of United Kingdom contractors to compete after 1992 with the EEC through lack of expertise in polymer modified bitumens.

§ Mr. Peter Bottomley
Major road building contractors in the United Kingdom have experience of working with modified bitumens of various types, including polymer modified bitumens similar to those used in other EEC countries. We have no reason to believe that these contractors will be unable to compete after 1992 through lack of expertise in the roadbuilding application of these materials.

§ Mr. Barry Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies he has carried out on polymer modified bitumens for United Kingdom roadbuilding.

§ Mr. Peter Bottomley
Since 1973 a considerable number of studies have been carried out by the transport and road research laboratory into various types and aspects of the use of polymer modified bitumens for roadbuilding. The main results have been published in the following reports:
Laboratory Report 963 describes the use of sulphurs.

Laboratory Report 989, and Research Reports 92 and 122 describe the use of ethylene/vinyl acetate.

Laboratory Report 989 also describes the use of styrena/butadiene/styrene.

Laboratory Report 1101 describes the use of polyethylene. Research Report 54 describes the use of a manganese modifier.

Research Report 57 describes the use of estylene/vinyl acetate, styrene/butadiene/styrene, and a number of proprietary materials.