Waste and resources firm Veolia is launching a new specialist facility based in Avonmouth, near Bristol, to meet the growing demand for the safe and compliant management of hazardous and complex waste streams in the South West.
Designed to be able to accept a wide range of hazardous wastes, it is expected to be operational in spring 2024. With a capacity of 6,500 tonnes per year, the facility adds to the company’s seven existing hazardous waste transfer stations handling over 76,000 tonnes per year, and will provide a full range of services including a mobile chemist service to ensure wastes are safely segregated and compliantly packed and labeled ready for transportation.
Specifically designed to accept and store a wide range of packaged palletised waste including kegs, drums, IBC’s, the facility will manage wastes such as aerosols and gas cylinders, non hazardous materials, and materials categorised as flammable, toxic, corrosive, and oxidising. By acting as a local hub it will enable cost effective access to Veolia’s full range of recycling, treatment and disposal facilities.
The Avonmouth facility will serve a range of customers producing packaged oily wastes from vehicle maintenance and engineering sites, laboratory wastes from research and development facilities, production wastes from all types of manufacturing operations, and materials from household waste recycling centres. The site will include a new laboratory and specially designed waste storage areas used to segregate each item based on its potential hazards, physical and chemical properties. These facilities will ensure correct identification, storage and movement of waste to the most appropriate recycling, treatment and disposal locations.
The transfer site will be supported by Veolia’s mobile chemist service, Chempac, for segregation, labelling, packing, collection and treatment and disposal of hazardous and laboratory chemical wastes, to ensure compliance and safety for customers. Waste streams will be tracked by Veolia’s end-to-end cloud based system that will ensure compliance and traceability through the complete cycle from enquiry to treatment or disposal, and is designed to cover more than 100,000 different waste profiles.
Nicola Henshaw, Director Hazardous Waste at Veolia UK said: “To ensure we protect people and the environment, complex and hazardous waste streams need to have strictly controlled collection and treatment solutions, and our new facility will deliver extended depollution capabilities to the South West region. By using the latest cost-effective solutions, gained from our expert teams, we will be able to offer an advanced and compliant local service that will meet the growing need in the area.”
Veolia says it currently treats and recycles around 6 million tonnes of hazardous waste for more than 100,000 industrial, commercial or public authority clients, and employs 8,000 people who operate a comprehensive network of more than 300 facilities on five continents.
