Soils and other materials left on roads outside landfill sites have long been issues that have required prompt action by site operators or risk the wrath of Planners and the Environment Agency.
A wide variety of techniques for wheel cleaning have been used to a greater or lesser degree of success from simple hoses to complex wheel washing systems.
Augean, the hazard waste specialist operates a landfill site at Port Clarence on Teesside. As in most cases, requirements to clean vehicle wheels before they leave the site is a requirement of permits under planning and PPC (pollution, prevention control) regulations.
"We visited a landfill site in Yorkshire where they had installed the Hippowash Classic. It looked to be a good system"
Ken Priestley, Group Plant Manager
The landfill is large with an approximate annual capacity of 650,000 tonnes of hazardous, non-hazardous and inert waste and it was clearly important to have a reliable wheelwash system, which meant that Augean needed to evaluate what was available on the market.
“We looked at a number of different wheel wash systems from a number of suppliers before we decided on the Hippowash” explained Ken Priestley, Group Plant Manager.
“We visited a landfill site in Yorkshire where they had installed the Hippowash Classic. It looked to be a good system; we liked the whole package, particularly the fact that it was very easy to use.”
Augean plumped for a 12-metre Hippowash Classic in August 2006.
Re-evaluation
However subsequent development at the landfill site has meant a re-evaluation of the wheel washing requirement.
Augean has embarked on a joint venture with Belgian company Dec to form the company Terramundo. Terramundo has built and now operates a soil processing plant located on the Port Clarence site. Here, approximately 100,000 tonnes of soil will be processed each year.
The process of treating contaminated soil involves washing, bio-remediation and stabilization processes to enable de-contaminated soil to be returned to the customer for safe use. The contaminants removed from the soil are processed into a filter cake and disposed of within the landfill site. Terramundo estimates 80% of the soil processed is recovered for re-use.
However the introduction of soil treatment has meant increased vehicle movements and the requirement for a second wheelwash to deal with vehicles that may have tracked over soil storage areas. Because of the earlier experience of using Hippowash a second system was purchased from the company.
“Because we’ve been impressed with the performance of the Hippowash Classic, it made sense to go to Hippowash for the Terramundo operation. We have not been disappointed,” explained Ken Priestley.
Located at the exit to the Terramundo operation, exiting vehicles use the Hippowash JSL to remove dirt and debris from their wheels. Its location was chosen to ensure that vehicles were clean before using the same roads as the landfill traffic, preventing the opportunity for cross contamination occurring.
Hippowash describes the JSL as ‘a compact, above ground system which is ideally suited to sites with up to 50 vehicle movements per day. Like the Classic, it incorporates a powerful, targeted wash spray which is automatically activated by the approaching vehicle. It recycles the wash water within the system by means of a 6 metre long settlement tank, minimising water usage’.
Water recirculation is clearly an important requirement to sustainable operation of a wheel wash in a landfill environment as well as a cost saving exercise.
Further information
Augean operates 5 waste facilities and is head quartered in Wetherby, Yorkshire. www.augeanplc.com
Further information on Hippowash can be found at the company’s website.