Ensuring road safety with sustainability in mind

Well-maintained road markings enhance road safety, traffic flow, and pedestrian protection. Over time, markings fade due to weather conditions, wear and tear, and increased traffic, necessitating regular renewal or replacement. To ensure road safety across Helsinki, Stara launched an open procedure in 2022 for road marking and painting works with an emphasis on environmental responsibility.

This procurement aimed at ensuring high-quality maintenance of road markings for a period of 36 months, between 2022 and 2024. The contract covers the maintenance and construction markings throughout the city of Helsinki, ensuring that both existing and newly developed areas maintain clear and effective road markings. The procurement aimed to achieve the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) while reducing the environmental impacts of markings. The service providers were required to use a compound containing resin of biological origin (e.g. derived from pine oil) and the latest road marking technology (car printer), while complying with Finnish traffic regulations and European standards for road markings. This tender aimed to reduce the environmental impact of these road works, including limiting microplastics from road markings. The estimated value of the contract was approximately €1,600,000 over three years.

Bio-resin: an alternative to petroleum products

Bio-resin, or bio-based resin, is a type of resin derived from renewable biological sources, such as plants or other organic materials, rather than from fossil fuels like petroleum. Bio-resins are used as binders in thermoplastic road markings. As bio-resins derive from renewable sources, such as pine trees or other biomass, their production has a lower carbon footprint compared to petroleum-based resins. They also contain fewer toxic chemicals compared to traditional resins, making them safer for workers during the application of road markings. While not all bio-resins are fully biodegradable, they have a lower environmental impact at the end-of-life phase.

Market engagement

Stara conducted market research to learn about available products on the market and their prices. Companies and their material suppliers were asked by e-mail how they felt about promoting environmental responsibility and whether it would add value to their products. If a company already had a bio-based compound for road marking, more detailed product information, user experiences and environmental impacts were asked. Stara also enquired about the latest road marking technology to carry out high-quality work efficiently while ensuring the safety of workers.

Picture of a street crossing with a worker repainting the zebra crossing, with the help of a tool he is laying paint on the worn markings. Two people are crossing the street in the background. — Veikko Somerpuro | Stara

Tender requirements

Selection criteria

The procurement documents stated that the contractor and the material supplier must have an environmental system in place, such as the ISO 14000 series, EMAS, or the EcoCompass that outlines the company’s operating methods to reduce environmental impacts. To ensure that the bidder had sufficient experience in road marking, it required the bidders to provide at least three references of public contracts from the past three years. The references should show that the contractor has provided marking and painting works for a value of at least € 100,000 in a public contract.

Award criteria

The contract was awarded to the tenderer with the most economically advantageous tender, determined based on the best price-quality ratio with a 60% weighting for price. The quality of the offer was given a 40% weighting and assessed the environmental friendliness of the bio-resin (20 points) and the quality of the printer car (20 points).

To make the road markings cost-effective and safe, the printer car had to meet the standard of the newest vehicle technology available. First generation printer cars have a predefined thickness when marking, while newer printers can vary the printing thickness on a single marking and print partial patterns. Varying the thickness of the print is usefully for refurbishing street markings as the wear and tear is uneven. The ability of printer cars to do partial printing can not only help to save on materials, it is also more comfortable for pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles as the markings are not too tick after a repair. Bidders were given a full 20 points if they had new generation printer cars, and no points if they did not.

To evaluate the environmental friendliness of bio-resin, public procurers assessed the percentage of the bio-resin in the resin of the hot pulp and used the following scoring:

≤ 2.99% = 0 point
> 2.99% = 5 points
> 9.99% = 10 points
> 19.99% = 15 points
> 29.99% = 20 points

With 29.99 percent or more, the bidder received a full 20 points. While it is possible to include a higher percentage of bio-resin in the hot pulp, it can affect the material properties of the markings. Therefore, as it was the first time that Stara procured these marking works with the use of bio-resin, they decided to limit the proportion to 30% and gain knowledge and experience about this use. Stara collected three samples and sent them to a laboratory to determine the bio-based carbon content of the melted road marking mass. The laboratory measured the modern carbon content (pMC) of the samples according to the ASTM D6866 method. The results showed a percentage of biobased carbon content of between 56% and 89% across the three samples.

The tender received enough bids, demonstrating that the requirement to use bio-resin did not deter bidders. Also, the use of bio-resin had little effect on the price.

Contract Performance Conditions

The procurement documents stated that the road marking works had to be done by area and at agreed times, unless weather conditions posed an obstacle to the works. As works carried out during rush hours causes the greatest disruption to traffic, Stara encouraged the contractor to limit disturbance to traffic during peak hours (i.e. 7:00 and 9:00 and between 15:00 and 18:00). And if the contractor had to close lanes to conduct the works, it has to notify the Capital Region’s traffic light control centre ahead of time. Moreover, the tender stated that should it be necessary to conduct works at night or during the winter, the pay should be increased by 30%. And Stara would carry out random quality control to ensure contract compliance.

Impacts

This procurement procedure met its intended goals. The compound containing bio-resin has been used for a few years and its durability has proved to be comparable to mineral oil-based resin. It was estimated that up to 151 tons of microplastic emissions can be avoided by using bio-resin across the city of Helsinki. The bio-resin is produced from by-products of the forest industry and enables a more comprehensive use of raw wood materials. The production of bio-resin creates additional job opportunities in the forest industry. Thus, the procurement has contributed to supporting R&D in the domestic road marking sector and encouraged other buyers to include the use of bio-resin in their procurements.

Not only have the material suppliers met the environmental requirements set for this procurement, but they have also continued their product development. Additionally, this tender has received positive attention from market actors and other public buyers across Finland.

Infographic showing the benefits of using bio-resin for street markings. The infographic illustrates two workers repainting a street and a zebra crossing. In the background there is a representation of the city of Helsinki with its cathedral and the Finnish flag, and in the distance a Nordic forest. — Dreamstime | Stephan Koehler for the European Commission

Lessons learned

Conducting market research and engaging stakeholders upfront can help to achieve procurement objectives. Before launching the procurement process, Stara had dialogues with several parties to better understand how they could achieve their environmental objectives. These discussions and the market research helped Stara understand what options were available on the market, so they could set realistic criteria. The requirement to use bio-resin did not prevent companies from bidding, showing that switching to environmentally-friendly alternatives was feasible.

As it is important to use public resources efficiently, public buyers have an incentive to use the most economically advantageous tender criterion. Yet, this procurement procedure showed that considering an environmentally friendly alternative does not necessarily entail an increase in price.

For more information

For related information, please see the EU GPP criteria for Office building design, construction and management (2016) [under revision], the Technical Background Report, and Procurement practice guidance.

Stara website: https://stara.hel.fi/en/

Contact Stara: https://stara.hel.fi/en/contact-information-and-feedback/

From trees to streets: Using bio-resin in road marking works in Helsinki