POTTSTOWN, Pa.—There is a relatively new paving material making its way across the U.S. It is porous, flexible, environmentally friendly and is made from recycled tires. It's durable enough for people to ride, drive, park, walk, run and play on. Plus, it can be used as a filler around trees planted in a city scape or in a park.
Today, the porous flexible paving has been installed in 16 states throughout the U.S.
Tom Carroll is the owner of Pottstown-based perkEpave L.L.C., which has been manufacturing the high-quality permeable and adaptable paving since 2017.
"Our product is made with recycled passenger tires, stone processing, binder tensile strength, precise mix ratios and finishing techniques," Carroll told Rubber News. "Choosing perkEpave as a company name is our attempt to be creative, catchy and descriptive. Perk because water flows through it, a capital E to emphasize the concern for the environment and pave to define our products as paving."
perkEpave's product is mixed on the job site. And in addition to the recycled tires, it comprises triple-washed and dried stone aggregate and is held together with a urethane binder. The paving is placed on the ground and is finished similar to the way concrete is done.
The many applications for the paving include trails, paths, sidewalks, tree surrounds, running tracks, trench drains, driveways, parking stalls and playground safety surface.
Carroll said the product's history started with development in Europe in the 1990s that came to the U.S. in the early 2000s.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Transportation incorporated Porous Flexible Paving into the 2014 DOT Green Infrastructure Standards (section 621.07) for the safe routes to school program as a way of eliminating tripping hazards caused by tree damaged sidewalks.
"The product has tested to support 22,000 pounds per square foot when installed over a properly prepared base. perkEpave has a flow-through rate of 2,000 gallons per hour per square foot and a 30-percent void capacity. With proper maintenance, perkEpave can last a lifetime," Carroll said.
The company can ship anywhere in the continental U.S.
"As a manufacturer of porous flexible paving, our business model is to assure quality installations and train contractors and installation teams throughout the (U.S.) on how to install our products," Carroll said. "perkEpave has been able to recycle over 100,000 tires into Porous Flexible Paving since we started, and volume has been doubling each year."
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perkEpave forms partnerships around the U.S. for sourcing the recycled tires used in production.
Aesthetically, Carroll said that blending with the surroundings is a perkEpave objective. The paving comes in eight colors of rubber and two stone colors, so the product can fit in with any design. It can be installed with bright and vibrant colors for playgrounds or more earthy colors for trails and paths.
In addition to the quality, longevity and the gains for the environment, the paving offers benefits in several other areas such as stormwater runoff.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has established regulations regarding impervious surface and the management of stormwater for construction projects. perkEpave products, being extremely permeable and porous, are a perfect solution to eliminating stormwater runoff," Carroll said.
He added that there also are health benefits to using the paving.
The flexibility of perkEpave is the answer to sore knees and ankles when used as a running and walking surface, and it protects from tripping hazards by eliminating lifted concrete sidewalks when perkEpave is installed near and around trees.
Carroll mentioned that his company has worked with a number of large organizations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health.
The company recently upgraded more than 25,000 square feet of walking paths at RWJF's corporate headquarters in Princeton, N.J., to the porous paving.
"The feedback from their director of facilities has been that they appreciate the installation being easy, the finish aesthetically pleasing, the permeability more than adequate and there has been no cracking from freezing temperatures," Carroll said.
"The paving was also recently installed around Lake Como in Spring Lake, N.J., and the customer was pleased with the color because it blends perfectly with the surroundings and the community has been pleased with the flexibility of the paving."
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