CSG PREPARED FOR POST-PIT OPERATIONS
One of the UK’s largest independent waste management groups says hazardous waste processing technology that it developed eight years ago has left it “perfectly prepared” to operate in a post ‘hole in the ground’ mixing pit era.
With a UK ban on the use of mixing pits now officially in force, Southampton-based Cleansing Service Group says the Waste Solidification and Fixation (SaF) system installed at its Cadishead site near Manchester is now the country’s only fully automated, enclosed and CCTV monitored processing facility able to handle hazardous waste to the Best Available Technique (BAT) standard demanded by the Environment Agency.
The process, installed at a cost of some £2.3million, is carried out in a purpose-built plant specifically designed to treat hazardous waste traditionally processed in mixing pits. The plant is already processing around 11,000 tonnes annually.
It blends wastes in the fixation plant which accepts liquids, sludges and solids, producing a uniform solid mass which minimises the effect on leachate and meets the stringent hazardous waste landfill acceptance criteria.
The entire process, including off-loading and storage, is carried out in an enclosed building so that waste is unaffected by rain, and emissions are prevented by a system of air-locks and filters.
Waste is weighed into the system – another BAT pre-requisite – while a CCTV system enables customers to witness the destruction of their wastes.
CSG say the facility operates in accordance with the model used by the EA in its Sector Guidance Note setting out BAT for this process.
CSG managing director Paul Quigley said that with the banning of open mixing pits the Cadishead process had now come of age.
“We have no quarrel with the decision to close pits for the processing of hazardous waste but it will probably result in a shortage of treatment capacity within the industry while waste management providers close their pits and develop new technologies that meet BAT standards.
“This could lead to problems for some waste producers whose hazardous wastes were traditionally taken to mixing pits. However, CSG has spare capacity in its SaF plant should any hazardous waste producer encounter any disposal problems.
“The EA says it wants waste management companies to identify new ways of disposing of these wastes. However, our Cadishead facility is already fully compliant with BAT which means we are perfectly prepared to move forward the treatment of hazardous waste into a new era.”