A soil treatment facility at Edwin Richards Quarry in the West Midlands is now fully licensed and permitted to accept asbestos fragments in soils. The facility is owned and run by waste management firm FCC Environment Ltd and its strategic partner Provectus Remediation Ltd (Provectus), a specialist in the treatment of contaminated soils
The facility opened in 2016 and allows for the treatment of a wide range of contaminated wastes using physical and biological treatment techniques. It is located on a former quarry to facilitate the restoration of a 12 million tonnes (or 6.1 million cubic metres) void over a period of approximately 25 years. The site allows for the recovery of a range of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. This facility is able to treat:
· Drilling muds
· Soils and stones containing hazardous hydrocarbons and asbestos fragments
· Construction materials that contain asbestos fragments
· Interceptor and gully wastes
· Waste from petroleum refining and other oily wastes
By using a range of complementary treatment methods, the site is able to recover and re-use a wide range of contaminated wastes cost effectively and negates the application of landfill tax. The facility is also able to accept a far wider range of wastes than those permitted to landfill, enabling customers to rely on a robust and cost effective alternative to landfill. Not only bringing customers cost savings and sustainability benefits, but customers will benefit from having responses to enquiries in less than 24 hrs; in addition, with a large annual capacity and close proximity to a number of motorway routes it will be easy to use the facility for large or small projects at short notice.
Chris Ellis, Operations Director for FCC Environment comments. “Asbestos fragments can be present in soils on lots of different projects and their classification as hazardous waste has been causing headaches for clients who have continually been unable to find a cost effective disposal solution. We are pleased to finally have that solution for our clients at our facility at Edwin Richards Quarry.”
Provectus Managing Director, Steve Langford commented: “The difficulties in dealing with asbestos in soil are well known. It is great to be able to transfer our extensive experience in removing asbestos from soils on client’s sites to the fixed facility at Edwin Richards Quarry.”
