There are many alternate options for solving contaminated soil issues other than landfill.
The landfill tax escalator is currently £102.10/tonne (as of April 2023) and increases in haulage costs from fuel tax have not made a big dent in the contaminated land market. In many cases we find that developers aren’t aware that they have options, and in those cases they often don’t have the time to implement alternatives by the time they’ve spoken to us.
There are 3 main approaches to managing contaminated soil, these are based on one of the main contaminated land principles which is the Source-Pathway-Receptor model.
‘Source’ is the contamination i.e. the material which is the root of your problem.
‘Pathway’ is the method by which the contamination gets to the receptor.
‘Receptor’ is the term used to describe anything that can be adversely affected by the contaminants; namely you, me, animals, plants, ecosystems, ground and above-surface waters, etc, though this is not an exhaustive list of possible receptors.
Finding a way to manage any or all of these 3 can remove the risk from the contaminated soil which is causing the problem.
Examples as follows-
Source – Remediate the contaminated materials so that they no longer pose a risk to receptors.
Pathway – Remove the pathway, place a barrier between the contamination and receptor in order to prevent contamination and the receptor meeting.
Receptor – Remove the receptor, put a fence around the site, or re-design your development so contamination is in a lower risk are e.g. beneath a car park.
We hope you’ll find that our free eBooks are useful resources, you can find them here, or download the soil remediation guide using the link below. I you want to ask questions please feel free to contact us on 0800 0209 307 or email.
FREE EBOOK2021
Soil remediation guide
Approaching soil remediation without any prior knowledge can be difficult and uncomfortable at times, especially when it can potentially be very costly. This free eBook will help you understand the whats, the whys and the hows of soil remediation in the simplest terms.
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