Tell us about On-Way, how did it all started?
“On-Way i Sverige AB is a distributor company that was founded in 1996, primary to sell cellulose fiber to asphalt mixes on the Swedish market. It had previously been discovered that one could get better and more sustainable asphalt if you add a small amount of cellulose fiber.”
Which kind of products to you sell and which market do you target?
“Except cellulose fiber, we also sell pigment pellets for dying asphalt. It is basically possible to make asphalt in any color you want. In the past years it has been popular to make, for example, green asphalt that should resemble grass and also blue asphalt that should resemble water. This kind of colored asphalts are suitable for decorative areas such as, for example, roundabouts and roads for walking and cykling.
We also sell unclassified release and cleaning agents made of biological easy degradable material, that are used at asphalt plants and also during asphalt paving. The advantage, with these products, is that they can replace the use of diesel and other petroleum based products.”
Foto: Blue asphalt in Borlänge
The topic of sustainability is highly actual, how do you work for a long-term sustainable society?
“Cellulose is in time when it comes to a sustainable society, since it is a renewable raw material. The whole asphalt industry is also working for a more sustainable society by consuming less fossil fuels. By replacing fossil fuels with, for example, biofuel, and through technological development make it possible to produce asphalt at lower temperatures, the consumption of fossil fuels is reduced.”
How many kilometers of road are your products on?
“Basically all asphalt on every highway and bigger municipal roads throughout Sweden, contains a small amount of cellulose fibers.”
Do you have more interesting facts about asphalt to share with us?
“In Sweden we have high demands on quality since we have a lot of heavy transports (trucks on up to 70 tons) and the usage of studded tires that wears down the surface. Many thinks asphalt is just a black mass of stone and bitumen that you easily apply on the road, but the reality is different. There are hundreds of different recipes for asphalt, depending on which type of road that is to be paved. Highly traffiked roads with heavy transports demands a whole different type of afphalt and, for example, a small road in a summer cottage area. By adjusting the recepie it is even possible to create “quiet asphalt” that you put on higly trafficked roads near residential areas.
The asphalt recepeies are also adjusted depending on where in the country the asphalt should be laid. A cold climate demands another type of raw materials than a warm climate. It is also possible to affect the performace of a pavement depending on the type of rocks that is used. Do you see a red pavement on a higly traficked road, it can be porfyr stone from Älvdalen. There are also different techniques to produce asphalt. One can produce asphalt with cold-, warm-, and hot-mix technique.”
What do you think about the future, how does the development look in your industry?
“Asphalts roads have existed since ancient times and will most likely exsist a long time from now. A very good thing with asphalt roads is that its 100% reusable. One take old asphalt, and by crushing the material, adding some fresh bitumen and small amount of a rejuvenator, one can basically reuse 100% of the old road masses.”