From: Bruce & Britt Poyntz [brucepoyntz@btinternet.com] Sent: 08 May 2011 10:48 To: jamesgasworks@hotmail.co.uk; hugh.wheeler@clara.net; mick.sarah@tiscali.co.uk Cc: 'Association of Verwood Residents' Subject: FW: 101214/TM02 - RE: Landfill in Verwood [SWX/CSC/15674] From: SW South Wessex, Customer Contact Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: RE: 101214/TM02 - RE: Landfill in Verwood [SWX/CSC/15674] There are two regulated landfills on Ringwood Road near Verwood, both of which collect landfill gas where is then burned in gas engines to generate electricity. According to our records there is no a waste incinerator of which we are aware. Somerley Landfill is a closed landfill. It was licensed to the Hampshire County Council. It has a gas management system and an engine which burns a relatively small quantity of landfill gas. This system has very recently been modernised. The landfill gas infrastructure is managed by Veolia Environmental Services (UK) plc who operate the adjacent active landfill site. The other is Blue Haze landfill, which is operated by Veolia Environmental Services (UK) plc. This is a very active site and involves the tipping of non-hazardous wastes from commercial, industrial and household sources. As with Somerley there is no uncontrolled burning of waste. There is a gas management system in place to control the landfill gas that is generated at the site. The site’s landfill gas compound includes a new flare and gas burning engines. These are newly installed and very carefully monitored, replacing older flares and an engine compound at Somerley some distance from Verwood and Ebblake. Strict limits have been imposed to protect the environment and prevent harm to health. Without these limits being in place a permit variation allowing the gas to be utilised for electricity generation would not have been issued. Before the engines went in the gas was directed to Somerley gas compound which is also being upgraded and also flared at a number of flare sites. Early into the new year Veolia will be submitting some additional data relating to current engines on site in order to justify an additional engine. This will be to show that the new state of the art engines are not going to exceed emission standards. This new modelling, based on actual data, will be assessed by the Environment Agency National Air Quality technical experts, who also assessed the emissions from the recent permit variation for the current engines. The Blue Haze landfill permit requires emissions from the flares and engines to be monitored and keep within limits. The burning in flares and engines means that gas is controlled in a much better way. In addition to this the site gas infrastructure has been improving as the site develops. We have been working with the operator to ensure that monitoring and control of gas has taken place. The Blue Haze Landfill also has, situated upon it, a separate activity operated by Raymond Brown for the recovery for reuse of Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA). This does have a distinctive odour associated with it. This bottom ash material is imported from incinerators. The material is sorted screened and then sold and used in various engineering projects as an aggregate. The Environment Agency is currently looking into the use and risks to groundwater from IBA related activities. The IBA recovery plant operates under an exemption from the need for a permit. This is because this sort of activity is considered to be a lower risk than activities that need a permit. These exemptions will expire by October 2013. If the operator wishes to continue this activity after this date then they will need to reregister the activity with us. However the activity is not considered to pose a risk to health in the surrounding areas. No monitoring is required although some voluntary testing may take place to test the quality of the product. If we had good reason to believe that it posed a significant risk of nuisance or health then we would look at deregistering the activity and so it would then need to be regulated through a full permit to ensure that it didn’t pose unacceptable risks. In short: 1.. There is no incinerator at the site. 2.. Only landfill gas is carefully burned through engines and a flare. This activity is regulated and monitored and is now being done with new and advanced technology. 3.. The Environment Agency has data which is submitted by the operator under the requirements of the permit. This is public register information and anyone can request to see this information. A new variation to the Blue Haze landfill permit means that the new flare and engines which replace the old ones are to be very well monitored for a number of determinants, though not metals as its not something that’s considered to be present in landfill gas in significant levels. Your local authority’s Environmental Health Department may have further information regarding air quality and background levels in the area as well as any activities that they regulate. We are not the health specialists but our partners the Health Protection Agency may be able to provide more information about health risks in relation to any concerns you may have. I hope this helps. The information you have requested is provided subject to the attached notice (Notice – Non Commercial.pdf). Please let me know if you require any further information. Chris Doyle Environment Agency Communications Officer Wessex Area, Blandford Office Telephone 01258 483396 (direct) 7-24-3396 (internal) Mobile 07919 395624 e-mail chris.doyle@environment-agency.gov.uk Environment Agency, Rivers House, Sunrise Business Park, Higher Shaftesbury Road, Blandford, Dorset, DT11 8ST Our flood warnings are changing. Be prepared. Find out more by calling Floodline on 0845 988 1188 or by visiting our website. P Before printing, think about the environment ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. (Email Guard: 7.0.0.21, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.17460) http://www.pctools.com =======