Landfill and Waste Management

ESI is the UK’s leading independent scientific and environmental consultancy specialising in water resource management, land quality and ground source energy. As a technical specialist advisor to corporate and governmental clients ESI is respected for its pragmatism, sound science and strong commercial focus.

Landfill and Waste Management ESI delivers a leading capability in landfill management in the UK and Europe. A detailed technical understanding with experience of the key issues involved in field regulation, data management, ongoing monitoring and risk assessment makes ESI the consultancy of choice.

Environmental Permits for Waste Management Sites Under the Environmental Permitting (EP) Regulations (2010), the development of a conceptual model and the preparation of environmental risk assessments are required for all sites prior to a permit being issued. The following risk assessments must be included in an application for an Environmental Permit:

•Hydrogeological •Landfill gas • Stability • Nuisance and health (including an assessment of particulate matter, noise, dust, odour and vermin.)

• Ecological assessment (if the site is close to a European Habitats site).

ESI provides support in preparing applications, reviewing permit conditions, evaluating the success of sites in achieving compliance criteria, and negotiating permit issues with regulatory authorities. With extensive experience across all types of waste disposal sites, including hazardous, non-hazardous and inert landfills, ESI is a natural choice to coordinate the preparation of applications.

Environmental Impact Assessments Environmental Assessments are an established part of the planning process. The sequence of scoping requests, site investigation, impact assessment and negotiation with regulators has become common practice. ESI provides the support required throughout the process from the initial scoping requests through to completion of the Environmental Statement and Environmental Impact Assessment.

Clients have benefited from ESI’s pragmatic and technically robust approach. Discussion and negotiation between developers and the regulators to agree the scope of investigations is essential to ensuring a cost-effective outcome. ESI’s experienced project

managers have excellent working relationships with contacts in all regions of the Environment Agency, which is important in developing a sense of trust in this process.  Senior members of the consultancy team have also provided Expert Witness support in public enquiries and court cases.

Water resources and, in particular, groundwater are a key component of many Environmental Impact Assessments. Landfills (for hazardous and non-hazardous waste) and quarries (over a certain size) are among those developments that fall under Schedule 1, and therefore require an Environmental Impact Assessment and an Environmental Statement at the planning stage.

Landfill Surrender ApplicationsLandfill sites are closely regulated and there is an onus on site owners to manage sites and their associated environmental liabilities for as long as they continue to pose a risk to the environment. Over time there is a gradual decrease in the concentrations of potential contaminants present in landfills and there comes a point when they no longer pose a risk to environmental receptors. At this point, the landfill licence or permit can be surrendered and the site is said to be completed.  

In order to surrender a licence or permit, the site owner must

demonstrate that the risk from the site is no worse than it was when the environmental permit was issued. This is achieved via the production of a landfill surrender report. Landfill surrender reports require an assessment of the current condition of the landfill and its surroundings. 

ESI has assisted a number of operators to achieve landfill completion with the result that these sites are no longer a liability and can be developed for subsequent use thus transforming a liability into an asset.

Landfill Reporting Emissions and monitoring of an environmental permit for a landfill site typically includes specific monitoring requirements for landfill gas, surface water, groundwater, and leachate (where appropriate) and is usually required on a quarterly and annual basis.

ESI’s reports allow for a thorough review of the environmental monitoring data that has been obtained during the year and an assessment of any patterns or trends that are seen within the data, particularly in relation to any compliance level exceedences that may have occurred. Services include: 

• Environmental monitoring and data management

• Compliance reporting

• Collation of monitoring data into a secure database

• Manipulation and interpretation of monitoring data

• Concise quarterly and annual reporting

• Liaising and conducting dialogue with the Environment Agency

ESI’s knowledge base of soil and groundwater science enables prompt and effective tackling and addressing of issues that arise at both new and existing sites in an innovative and practical manner. A proven track record and working relationships with regulatory authorities enables pragmatic discussions and satisfactory solutions when more complex issues arise.

Landfill Monitoring Support Service ESI has frequently been retained to assist with the development of landfill monitoring networks, protocols and the establishment of data management systems. The range of chemicals that present a potential environmental threat is wide and varied, and it is important that monitoring points are correctly positioned and precisely installed to ensure that the data collected is sufficient and reliable.

Consultants use their experience and expertise to build an understanding of the potential contaminant transport routes around a site and to design monitoring and sampling systems that meet the needs of the operator and of the regulator.  Advice is provided on appropriate assessment criteria (control and trigger levels). ESI’s service offering includes:

•The design of environmental monitoring networks and suitable borehole design specifications

•Review and assessment of monitoring facilities - effectiveness, quality, sufficiency and positioning

• Supervision of the installation of new monitoring facilities

• Identification of the reasons for unreliable or unrepresentative data

• Production of monitoring protocols with due consideration of regulatory requirements, best practice and cost- efficiency

• Advice on appropriate monitoring suites for requisite surveillance

• On-going data management, analysis, interpretation and reporting

Radioactive Waste Disposal Radioactive waste material has the potential to generate soluble products that may gain access to groundwater systems and discharge to surface water receptors. Protection of groundwater and surface waters around radioactive waste disposal sites is paramount. ESI’s team of hydrogeologists and modellers are able to undertake the necessary risk assessments to explore whether current or proposed waste disposal options are likely to cause environmental impacts.

In order to understand contamination risks to groundwater and surface water

associated with radioactive waste disposal sites and radioactive waste facilities, an advanced risk assessment approach is necessary.  Assessments use the accepted ‘source, pathway, receptor’ methodology; ‘source’ is the radioactive material, ‘pathway’ is the route by which contaminant migration could potentially take place within the made ground and natural geological strata, and ‘receptors’ are potentially sensitive environmental features (e.g. groundwater or surface waters) in the vicinity of the site.

Closed Landfill SupportClosed landfill sites fall into two categories, those regulated by a Waste Management Licence (WML) / Environmental Permit which are the responsibility of the Environment Agency, and those closed prior to 1994 which did not require a WML and are the responsibility of the Local Authority and likely to fall within the purview of Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act.

ESI provides bespoke support to local authorities and businesses in relation to issues arising from closed landfills. The service offering includes:

• Review and interpretation of existing historical reports and data sets

• Development of a screening matrix to help eliminate sites that do not pose a threat to the environment and to prioritise those of most concern

• Development of a robust site conceptual model to determine environmental risks

• Identification of data gaps and additional monitoring and infrastructure

• Design of environmental monitoring networks and suitable borehole design specifications

• Production of a site-specific environmental monitoring schedule

• On-going data management, analysis, interpretation and reporting

• Construction of a risk assessment to assess the level of risk posed by the landfill site to relevant environmental receptors.

Hydrogeological Risk Assessments for Landfill A site-specific hydrogeological risk assessment (HRA) must be included in all applications for an Environmental Permit (EP) for a waste disposal site. ESI prepares hydrogeological risk assessments for landfill sites accepting inert, non-hazardous and hazardous waste, in a wide and varied range of locations and geological and hydrogeological environments.

A technical approach to risk assessment has been carefully designed; ESI works closely with regulatory bodies and the industry as a whole on the development and application of practical risk assessment methodologies. Through the production of a robust conceptual model, based on a comprehensive desk study, the level of risk assessment appropriate to the site is determined. If required a computer model is developed, to

represent conditions as accurately as possible.

ESI has its own in-house modelling software package RAM2 in addition to other software packages. This software is highly versatile and enables a flexible approach to developing risk assessment models. RAM2 provides a robust and transparent assessment of risks using the source-pathway-receptor methodology and can incorporate a constant or declining source term.

ESI’s transient version of RAM2 (TRAM) has been developed to allow the assessment of a landfill’s performance through time, taking into account changes to the engineering containment measures that are in place (e.g. geomembrane liners and landfill caps).

Hydrogeological Risk Assessment Reviews

Assessment for a Landfill Licence Surrender

Case Studies

Environmental Permits for landfill sites include a condition requiring operators to undertake a review of the hydrogeological risk assessment (HRA) that was submitted with the original application. A report, detailing the outcome of the review, must be submitted to the Environment Agency, as stipulated by the permit

ESI has extensive HRA experience and utilises a range of software tools that quickly and accurately assess the level of work required under an HRA review, enabling operators to fulfil regulatory requirements whilst keeping costs to a minimum.

The complexity of an HRA review will depend upon the nature of the site (inert, non-hazardous or hazardous) and the specific site setting (e.g.

sub-water table, proximity to sensitive receptors). ESI’s services include:

• The review of environmental monitoring data collected since the last HRA review

• Assessment of data to establish any changes in the nature of; the source term, the pathways, and the receptors

• Update, or reconstruction of, the HRA model as required

• Concise reporting of the outcomes of environmental data review. Changes to conceptual site model, computer modelling,  conclusions of the updated HRA, and any appropriate amendments to the site requisite surveillance scheme

ESI was instructed to produce a surrender report for an old landfill site. Following early discussions with the regulator, it was decided that a number of risk assessments were required before a surrender report could be accepted.

Therefore, as part of this project a site investigation was undertaken to collect necessary data to inform human health, controlled waters, gas and stability risk

assessments. The risk assessments were subsequently undertaken (the stability risk assessment was undertaken by one of ESI’s partners) and they concluded that the site no longer posed a risk.

The surrender report and associated surrender form were submitted to the regulator who agreed with the findings and the licence was surrendered.

Risk Assessment for a Proposed LandfillESI undertook a desk study and detailed site investigation in order to enable robust conceptualisation of the hydrogeological regime and subsequent groundwater flow and hydrogeological risk modelling of the landfill site. Of particular importance was inclusion of leachate re-circulation in the model. Development of the modelled site design in close liaison with the landfill engineers enabled the necessary site performance to be achieved cost

effectively. The client also benefited from ESI’s close consultation with the Environment Agency, facilitating approval of the preferred containment solution for the landfill site.

ESI provided detailed technical justification for model parameters and undertook close consultation with the Environment Agency to facilitate approval of the preferred containment solution effectively.

ESI LtdNew Zealand House160 Abbey ForegateShrewsburySY2 6FDT: +44 (0) 1743 276100 E: info@esinternational.com W: www.esinternational.com

“ESI’s expertise in soil and groundwater science and our proven track record working with a wide range of clients and liaising with regulatory authorities as required, enables us to provide bespoke services to our clients in the waste management industry. Our services include, tailoring risk assessment models to the specific requirements of the site, advising on the optimum engineering design and ensuring the most cost effective solution to the problem” Rob Sears - Technical Director Landfill

Landfill Groundwater Monitoring Network Design and Construction Quality AssuranceESI was commissioned to advise on locating and designing 10 groundwater monitoring wells for an active landfill site. The operator was unhappy with the monitoring infrastructure around the site margins.

Following agreement with the Environment Agency, ESI also provided independent construction quality assurance (CQA) services for the drilling and installation. The drilling and installation specifications were prepared by ESI prior to all site work and ESI

undertook all drilling supervision as per the CQA plans to British Standard BS5930.

ESI provided documentation of the works in the form of a CQA report that was submitted to the Environment Agency. The improved monitoring network is now giving satisfactory information for statutory reporting to the Environment Agency allowing the operator to ensure that Permit conditions are fulfilled.