The former Gasworks site is located at Lossie Green in Elgin, Morayshire. Grontmij’s design for this project won the award for the Most Sustainable Remediation Method for 2007, presented at the prestigious Brownfield Briefing Remediation Innovation Awards ceremony.
Soil washing is a sustainable, cost effective and viable alternative to landfill disposal. Grontmij designed and implemented a remedial project based on soil washing which effectively treated in the region of 3,600m3 of contaminated soil, located at the 0.5 hectare former Gasworks site, Lossie Green, Elgin.
This technique has significant environmental benefits; the nearest landfill site to Lossie Green, which could accept waste of this nature, is over 200 miles away near to Glasgow. By using soil washing, the project saved more than 70,000 miles of additional truck movements through Elgin and the heart of the Scottish Highlands, reducing traffic and its associated emissions.
Furthermore, by enabling the cleaned product to be re-used as an engineered fill on site, it significantly reduced the amount of quarried materials required to replace any landfilled soils. In total 81% reuse of soils was achieved, whilst an approximate 50% reduction in carbon emissions was achieved by using this on-site treatment method, as well as achieving substantial cost savings for The Moray Council.
(This is based on DEFRA guidelines for Company Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions).
Facts
- Client: The Moray Council
- Start: August 2006
- Finished: February 2007