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Biffa Expands Waste Soil Treatment Into South East

25th May 2007

Biffa is to double its capacity to deal with contaminated waste soils with the construction of a new Soil Clinic at the Colnbrook landfill facility near Slough, Berkshire.

Work on the new site, which is a partnership between Biffa and Biogenie Site Remediation Ltd, will start in May and is expected to be operational by September this year. It will have an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes, the same capacity as the existing facility at Risley.

The pioneering Risley site was the first of its kind in the UK. It launched in November 2005 and has been a tremendous success. As well as winning two industry awards for innovation , the site has been operating at full capacity and has easily met Biffa's projected growth targets.

The demand for the service is high because the contaminated waste soils that it treats include hazardous waste, which are expensive to landfill. The soils commonly come from construction firms and developers who are regenerating brownfield sites. They could treat them in-situ, but that would take up space and hold up development.

'By providing off-site treatment we've enabled projects to start without delay and in the knowledge that the waste soils, and therefore the developers liabilities are being treated and not landfilled. This has led to the sustainable re-use of these materials rather than merely dumping them,' said general manager for remediation services, John Conway.

'And we've achieved this at prices competitive to landfill. This means that the UK construction industry now has a viable alternative to on-site treatment or 'dig and dump,' which not only helps them meet developers Corporate Social Responsibility targets, but which can also offer significant cost savings, as the soils treated via our facility are not subject to Landfill Tax.'

With the opening of a new Soil Clinic at Colnbrook, Biffa now has the capability to meet the demands of developers in London and the South East of England.

More information on the Soil Clinic can be found here.