Caravan dealership, Hull

Our Brief

Lithos were commissioned by a caravan manufacturer in Hull to complete waste classification of material within a soil bund prior to its export off-site in order to create more space for operations.

Site characteristics

The bund surrounded the storage yard in a U-shape and was approximately 250m in length, 5m in width, and between 2m and 3m in height.  The site had been a refuse heap before redevelopment in the 1970s.  Lithos conducted interviews with site staff and learned that the bund was formed from site-won material ‘scraped back’ from the storage area to facilitate construction of some new buildings.  However, excavation into the former landfill was not undertaken, and landfill material was not anticipated within the bund.

What we did

Lithos excavated 10 machine-dug trenches at evenly spaced locations along the bund.  This provided us with a representative view of the material, and we were able to recover unbiased soil samples; i.e.  samples that were representative of the soil mass as a whole rather than any isolated pockets of contamination.

The bund material was found to be mostly homogenous, with rare lenses of ash and clinker.  Fairly routine contamination testing was scheduled on samples to enable subsequent waste classification.  WAC testing was also scheduled to determine the acceptability of waste at landfills.  Waste Classification test data only provides information on the soil’s composition; WAC testing provides an indication of how the material will behave once it is buried in a landfill, including what will leach out of it.

The outcome

Waste classification was undertaken using mean values of various contaminants for the sample population.  The material was found to be hazardous due to two hazardous properties and therefore the material was assigned the appropriate waste code (17 05 03).

Whilst this was not the outcome that the client had hoped for, Lithos were able (through use of contacts and experience) to provide advice on potential disposal costs and how best to proceed.  This allowed the client to make an informed decision.