18 January 2007
To whom it may concern
DISCONTINUED USE OF COAL TAR IN ROADS
In the interest of global best practice we hereby request that your Organisation discontinues specifying the
use of Coal Tar binders in your tender documents. We wish to bring to your attention that this practice
militates against the interests of safeguarding workers health and environmental conservation.
Tar is a known carcinogen to humans and the use thereof increases the risk of exposing workers to
unacceptable high concentrations of cancer causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Tars also contain
water soluble phenols which are harmful to microbiological systems if leached into groundwater. In the
light hereof we believe that you have an obligation in terms of the Constitution of South Africa to ensure
that everybody has a right to an environment which is not harmful to their health and therefore any action
militating against such would be considered as being unlawful.
For this reason the use of Coal Tar binders in road construction has been discontinued in most developed
countries. In South Africa leading road authorities such as the South African National Road Agency, the
Provincial Government Administrations of the Western Cape and Gauteng have taken the right decision
to prohibit the use of tar based binders on their projects. We therefore urge you to consider in the interests
of good corporate governance to discontinue specifying tar binders and resort to using more
environmentally friendly products or techniques for road construction.
To assist road authorities to use more environmental friendly products and techniques to replace tar
products, Sabita has published Manual 26 as an interim best practice guideline for priming granular
bases and precoating road surfacing aggregates. Below is a summary of the applications and alternative
product options to replace tar based products for your consideration:
Use
Priming bases
Tar based
RTH: ¼ P, 3/12 P & QDP
RTL: ¼ P, 3/12 P & SDP
Precoating stone
Precoat S, Stonekote,
Sacreosote
Non-tar based
Inverted bitumen emulsion
Cutback bitumen e.g. MC 30
Enviro Prime bitumen emulsion
Bituminous based precoating
fluid
Specification
SANS 1260
SANS 308
Proprietary
Sabita Manual 26:
Table 3
For more insight into the inherent dangers of using tar products and the legal implications thereof please
visit www.sabita.co.za to down load the position paper entitled ‘The discontinuation of the use of coal
tar binders in road construction’.
Yours sincerely
TR Distin
Chief Executive Officer
Directors: MC Cronje; DS Mashatola; MG Schafer; CN Viljoen; MP Zacharias
CEO : PA Myburgh Pr. Eng; B.Sc(Eng), FSAICE; MIAT
Southern African Bitumen Association (Company Registration.Number 89 / 00047/08) (VAT NO 4760110181)
Tel +27 (0)21 531 2718 Fax:+27 (0)21 531 2606 E-Mail [email protected] Web Address www.sabita.co.za
Postal Address Postnet Suite 56 Private Bag X21 Howard Place 7450 South Africa