Recycling & Waste Management Successful sweep
Burying our head in the sand simply isn’t acceptable says George Anderson, director of Siltbuster Roadside and gully waste typically consists of sand and gravel
Putting treated
(70%), leaves, twigs and other organics (8%), larger aggregates (10 – 12%), fines (8 – 10%) and litter (2%). However, waste collected by road sweepers and gully suckers varies in both content and consistency, depending on the vehicle design, cleansing method, location, weather, and the time of year. For this reason, it has traditionally been a challenging waste stream to treat.
Industry has, to a large extent, buried its head in the sand when it comes to gully waste treatment, often leaving it for someone else to deal with, paying high rates to have the waste and water taken away and treated or occasionally illegally dumping it. Identifying a cost-effective, sustainable and environmentally acceptable treatment method for this material has until now proved difficult, with the majority of this waste stream historically being landfilled.
Legislative requirements
Recent environmental and legislative developments, however, mean that those responsible for the treatment of this material are having to re-evaluate their current practices – or face the consequences.
The disposal of roadside and gully arisings straight to landfill with little or no pre-treatment potentially contravenes current legislation regarding the disposal of liquid bearing waste and does not comply with current best practice of waste minimisation by pre-treatment.
Convincing commercial arguments
Adhering to this legislation is not the only driver to recovering roadside and gully waste; there are also a number of extremely persuasive commercial and environmental reasons.
roadside and gully waste to alternative reuses means that waste and landfill reliance are both minimised. Sending road sweeper and gully waste to landfill incurs significant disposal (gate fee) and landfill tax costs. Landfill tax rates currently stand at £48 per tonne but are set to increase to over £70 per tonne by 2013. In addition, the cost associated with
transporting this waste to landfill sites needs to be taken into consideration.
Siltbuster’s George Anderson
Road sweepings and gully arisings typically contain between 60 to 75% of gravel and sand sized particles which, once treated, are inert and can potentially be put to beneficial use. Where disposal to landfill is the only viable option, by reducing the organic content of the processed material to less than 3% total organic carbon, it is possible to re-categorise the material as inert/inactive waste. The result of this process is a reduction in the landfill tax from £48 per tonne to £2.50 per tonne, resulting in a tax saving of up to £30 per tonne.
Recycling opportunities
Further commercial opportunities lie in the potential to put the reclaimed material to beneficial reuse. There are many options for using the recovered grit as a recycled aggregate including back fill, pipe bedding, road underlay, and brick making among others. And, with local authorities seeking to identify alternative routes to meeting their recycling targets, there is an added incentive for recycling roadside and gully waste. DEFRA has stated that gully waste is able to be included as part of an authority’s recycling targets.
So, it is clear that there are many compelling reasons for addressing the treatment of this often overlooked, but potentially extremely valuable waste stream. While increased landfill taxes are acting as the stick to move industry forward, the carrots of reduced cost and pressure to improve environmental best practice should be driving local authorities and their contractors to re-appraise what they are doing with their roadside and gully waste. For more information, please visit
www.siltbuster.com
48 Solids & Bulk Handling • November 2010
www.solidsandbulk.co.uk
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