Mechanical Biological Treatment Facility Former Britannia Zinc Site, Avonmouth Environmental Statement Non Technical Summary Non Technical Summary July 09
New Earth Solutions Group Ltd Mechanical Biological Treatment Facility Former Britannia Zinc Site, Avonmouth Environmental Statement Non Technical Summary July 2009 A planning application for the development of a Mechanical Biological Treatment facility at the former Britannia Zinc Site in Avonmouth has been submitted. An Environmental Statement has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999. Schedule 4 of those regulations requires that a summary of the Environmental Statement is provided in non technical language. This document forms the Non Technical Summary to satisfy these requirements. This report was produced by Atkins Limited for New Earth Solutions Group Ltd (NES) for the specific purpose supporting the planning application. It may not be used by any person other than NES without NES s express permission. In any event, Atkins accepts no liability for any costs, liabilities or losses arising as a result of the use of, or reliance upon, the contents of this report by any person other than NES. Atkins Limited Document History JOB NUMBER: 5081924 DOCUMENT REF: Britannia Zinc MBT Non Technical Summary 1 Final LS EH AJ JAS July 09 0 Draft for client review LS EH AJ JAS July 09 Revision Purpose Description Originated Checked Reviewed Authorised Date July 2009
Introduction New Earth Solutions Group Ltd (NES) is proposing to develop a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility on the former Britannia Zinc site in Avonmouth. The proposed facility will have the capacity to treat 200,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of residual waste (non-hazardous household and commercial black bag/wheely bin waste) through a combination of sorting, segregating and composting processes. New Earth Solutions Group Ltd (NES) employ advanced waste separation and composting technologies to process household, commercial and industrial waste. They specialise in designing bespoke processing systems that assist local authorities in meeting their landfill diversion and recycling targets. NES has recently been selected as preferred bidder for the West of England Contract to treat 120,000 tpa of household waste from the Partnership area (Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council, North Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Council) starting April 2011. Phase 1 of the proposed MBT is being designed and constructed specifically to meet the needs of this contract with a second phase providing an additional 80,000 tpa of merchant capacity. Once the facility is fully operational it will reduce the amount of municipal biodegradable waste going to landfill (within the partnership area) by 75%. Figure 1 shows the location of the application site. It is anticipated that site remediation and construction will commence in February 2010 and take approximately 14 months up to the completion of the Phase 1 build. Phase 1 is planned to be operational by 1 st April 2011. The Need for the Development European and UK legislation sets targets for local authorities to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste they send to landfill. By 2020, the Council must have reduced the amount of such waste from current levels of approximately 227,371 tonnes to just 98,223 or they will face very heavy fines. The West of England Partnership have chosen the MBT technology employed by NES to meet these targets. The Alternatives Considered NES have undertaken an exhaustive search for a suitable site to accommodate the MBT facility in the West of England sub-region. This has been combined with the sites identified as suitable for waste treatment facilities in a report produced for the Partnership area. 1 Both searches have identified the land at the former Britannia Zinc site as suitable for a waste treatment facility. The application site is currently a derelict industrial site with good transport links to the Partnership area from which the waste will be coming. It is located within an area which is being redeveloped for commercial and industrial use and there are no residential properties within 800m of the site. The West of England Partnership have selected the MBT technology used by NES over alternative technologies through a tendering process and using a life cycle assessment tool which assesses the environmental impacts associated with various waste management scenarios. 1 Environmental Resource Management. June 2009, Revised Detailed Site Assessment. An assessment of sites for the location of strategic facilities to treat residual waste. Final Report. July 2009 1
The Site and Its Setting The application site is situated within the Avonmouth Industrial Area approximately 9.5km north west of Bristol City Centre. It is located on the former Britannia Zinc works site which is now referred to as the Access 18 commercial development. The site is approximately 5.5ha of brownfield land, all previous buildings have been demolished to ground level leaving a generally flat surface of various forms of concrete. The surrounding land use is dominated by past and present industrial and commercial activities. The former zinc smelting works that were located on the site have contaminated the underlying ground with heavy metals associated with the smelting processes. These contaminants are largely contained in the underlying Made Ground (ground constructed by man) which comprises residues of the former smelter processes. The Made Ground is underlain by the Tidal Flat deposits of clay, silt and sand which in turn is underlain by the solid geology of the Mercia Mudstone Group. environment. There is an extensive rhine (ditch) system in the local area. The northern boundary of the site is formed by Kings Western Rhine (west) which is an artificially lined channel which flows into the larger rhine network and ultimately the River Severn Estuary. The closest Greenfield area to the site is approximately 800m to the east. The nearest residential receptor is approximately 800m to the south east of the A4034/A4 roundabout. The River Severn Estuary is located approximately 800m to the north west of the site at its closest point and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and as an important wetland under the Ramsar Convention. These designations relate to the important habitats that the estuary provides and the species that the habitats support. Other watercourses in the area include the River Avon, approximately 1.8km to the south of the site and the extensive rhine network which ultimately flows into the Severn Estuary. Three groundwater regimes exist at the site associated with each of the above geological strata. Shallow groundwater is present within the Made Ground, this groundwater is contaminated. Groundwater is also present within the Tidal Flat deposits and the Mercia Mudstone Group which is classified as a non-aquifer (a formation regarded as containing insignificant quantities of groundwater). The contamination at the site has had an adverse impact on the water quality of the surrounding View from Zinc Road showing eastern site area July 2009 2
Description of the Proposals The proposed layout of the MBT Facility is illustrated in Figure 2. With the key identifying the proposed use of the different buildings. Mechanical Biological Treatment is split into two distinct processes. Waste reception and mechanical sorting Biostabilisation of the organic fraction In the first process waste is tipped from waste delivery vehicles through doors into a bunkering area in the waste reception hall. The doors are kept closed except when a waste delivery is taking place. From the reception area the waste is loaded by mobile plant into a shredder and subsequently passed through a series of industrial machines to remove certain materials such as metals and plastics for recycling and sorts different sized fractions of the biodegradable portion. The reception building also provides buffering capacity to temporarily store waste materials during peak delivery periods or in the event of plant breakdown. The second process is biostabilisation of the organic fraction to both reduce the biodegradable content and ensure that the waste is treated to meet the requirements of the Animal Bi-Products Regulations (ABPR) 2005. This fraction of the waste includes any green and food waste within the residual waste stream as well as paper, card and natural fibres. The biodegradable fraction is transferred from the mechanical treatment hall to the biostabilisation halls via covered links or conveyors and is subsequently built into 4m wide long piles called windrows. The windrows are built over aeration channels in the floor which pull a steady supply of air through the windrow. This in addition to irrigation of the windrows, ensures that optimum conditions are in place for biodegradation. The temperature of the windrows is monitored continuously and they are turned regularly using a bespoke compost turner to ensure that all of the windrowed material has reached the temperatures required by the ABP Regulations. The output from the biostabilisation process is a compost like output (CLO). Before the CLO is ready for dispatch it is subjected to a further mechanical treatment involving screening to ensure that any oversized material or contamination such as plastics and metals, that were not removed in the initial mechanical sorting process, are removed before use in land restoration or non-food crop agricultural land. Schematic diagram of processes July 2009 3
The Assessment of the Potential Environmental Effects The MBT facility will operate under an Environmental Permit from the Environment Agency. The Permit will provide limits on discharges to air, land and water associated with the operation of the facility. An application for an Environmental Permit will be submitted shortly after the planning application. The potential environmental impacts during the construction and operation of the MBT facility have been assessed. While several measures to minimise these impacts are incorporated into the design of the facility, the assessment identified additional measures which are detailed in this summary. With these measures in place, there will be some long term beneficial effects on the environment once the facility is operational. These benefits are largely due to the improvements in surface water and shallow groundwater quality, the development of a derelict site and ecological enhancement. Traffic and Transport Vehicles accessing the site will travel northbound on the A403 St Andrews Rd and turn right onto Kings Weston Lane at a signal controlled junction. They will then turn right onto Boundary Road which leads onto Zinc Road and into the site. The majority of waste deliveries to the MBT facility will occur between 0700 and 1700 Monday to Friday, and 0800 to 1200 on Saturdays (and all day Saturday following a bank holiday). The facility will only receive waste on Saturdays during the months of April to June, when higher levels of household garden waste is generated. The existing capacity of the highway network has been assessed following the identification of two junctions for assessment. These junctions were identified in scoping discussions with Bristol City Council. They are: Kings Weston Lane / St Andrews Road Signal Junction; Kings Weston Road / Boundary Road (Site Access) Priority Junction The capacity of both junctions have been assessed with 2009 base traffic flows, and show both junctions to operate within capacity during the weekday peak hours. The injury accident records have been obtained for the same junctions for which capacity assessments have been undertaken, and show local roads to have no safety shortcomings. The Kings Weston Lane / St Andrews Road signal junction is shown to operate at capacity with base and committed development traffic flows in 2011. This is a direct result of a significant amount of committed development traffic travelling through the junction during peak hours. With the addition of proposed development traffic, the results are largely unchanged, and the proposals shown to have minimal impact. Sustainable transport links have been identified in the local area to the site. The site is connected to footways and cycle routes and adequate public transport provision is provided in the local area. There are a number of bus and train services operating in Avonmouth, providing links to wider areas of Bristol and beyond. Air Quality The facility will operate under an Environmental Permit, which will provide limits on discharges to air associated with the operation of the facility. Operation of the proposed facility has the potential to result in releases of dust, odour, and bioaerosols as a result of the waste processing activities. The assessment provides: an examination of information on existing pollutant sources and measures ambient concentrations in the vicinity of the site and surrounding area, comparing these with air quality criteria. consideration of air quality impacts during the remediation and construction phases, inparticular potential dust impacts and effects. estimations of ambient local air pollutant concentrations due to additional traffic emissions associated with the operation of the proposed facility. consideration of the potential impacts and effects of the operation of the facility in terms July 2009 4
of potential dust, bioaerosols, odour and other gaseous emissions. recommendations for mitigation to prevent or reasonably minimise potentially significant effects identified by the assessment. The operation of the facility would have an insignificant effect on odour and bioaerosol emissions in the area. Wind rose diagram for Bristol Airport Consultation with Bristol City Council identified that : there are few relevant sensitive receptors in the vicinity for any of the potential air quality impacts (air, dust, odour, bioaerosols), and the proposed facility uses proven technology to control releases to air. As such, the following potential issues were excluded from further consideration in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): Dust from construction vehicle movements on local road network. Construction dust effects from site workings at sensitive human health receptors. Operational traffic adversely affecting local air quality (human health), subject to confirmation of traffic flow changes from the transport assessment. This is confirmed within the EIA. The assessment has therefore been limited to: Consideration of construction dust effects on the Severn Estuary designated ecological site Qualitative assessment of operational phase bioaerosol emissions Qualitative comments on any design changes since the scoping position on the effect of odour on relevant receptors. The assessment concludes that: The site is located within an area with relatively good ambient local air quality, with the relevant pollutant concentrations below the air quality objectives. For the Severn Estuary designated site, dust from construction would have a negligible impact with no significance with proposed mitigation. Operational road traffic changes from the proposed facility are small, and below the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges change criteria that require calculations of local air quality human health effects. Noise and Vibration An impact assessment has been carried out following the British Standards BS 5228 and BS 4142 for construction and operational noise. The nearest residential property is approximately 800m from the site. This residential property was considered throughout the assessment but no impacts were found. The nearest commercial properties are offices located approximately 370m and 420m from the eastern site boundary and approximately 200m from the western site boundary. Sampled baseline noise surveys were carried out during the day (07:00-19:00), evening (19:00-23:00) and night (23:00-07:00) periods, to establish ambient noise conditions in the area potentially at risk of exposure to noise from the new facility, and which represented nearby noisesensitive properties. The noise climate of the area was revealed to be industrial in nature, dominated by road traffic noise (a large proportion HGVs) and surrounding industrial activity. Measured noise levels were subsequently used in the assessment of the impact from the proposed development and the setting of an operational plant (machinery) noise emission limit. July 2009 5
Assumptions on the type and number of plant required were used to predict the noise and vibration levels. Unmitigated impact from all stages of development were assessed that may cause minor adverse impacts. However, with the use of appropriate mitigation measures it is practicable to off-set these impacts. Vibration impact is unlikely to be perceptible at any off-site receptor locations. Driven piling is likely to be required as part of the construction phase. The noise and vibration generated by the piling activities will not affect the nearest residential or commercial premises. Operational noise impact was assessed with reference to British Standard 4142 and the Local Authority target noise criterion. This states that a Rating Level of any noise from any fixed plant should not exceed the pre-existing background noise level by 0 db(a) at any time at residential properties and +6 db(a) at any sensitive industrial use. An existing New Earth Solutions MBT and composting facility at Canford, Poole (which the proposal resembles closely) was considered appropriate for comparison and measured noise levels from this site were applied in this assessment. During the daytime operational noise levels were predicted to achieve the Local Authority s noise standard, but for the quietest period of the night the predicted plant noise level was calculated to exceed the adopted plant noise emission limit by up to 4 db(a). However, the office locations of the adjacent industries are very unlikely to be occupied during the night-time to cause complaint. It is recommended that with careful attention paid to plant selection, installation and noise attenuation, the requirements of the Local Authority will be achieved, and that, at worst, adverse residual effects of negligible significance would remain. The Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN) memorandum and the procedures described within were used to determine noise generated by the extra vehicle movements that would result from the proposed development. The flows associated with the proposed development are relatively low and are not predicted to be large enough to cause any discernible adverse impacts. Landscape An assessment of the impact of the proposed development on landscape character and visual amenity within a study area of approximately 2 km radius was carried out. The proposed development will be located in an area of intense industry. It will create a visual extension to this area but will not be an uncharacteristic addition to it. The existing site is derelict and contaminated; having previously been the location of a zinc smelting facility. The site currently has planning permission to become a landfill site. The proposed development will use materials sympathetic to the immediate townscape character and will introduce a positive alteration to the existing site. Overall there will be a slight beneficial effect on the Avonmouth Industrial Shoreline townscape character area. However there will be a slight adverse effect on one visual amenity receptor in close proximity to the proposed development. Due to the screening qualities of the enclosed industrial urban fabric, large landfill site and network of major transport corridors, the proposed development will result in a neutral effect on more distant visual amenity receptors and landscape/townscape character areas. Ecology An ecological assessment of the receptors that may be affected by the proposed development was undertaken, focusing on protected or notable species, habitats and designated sites. A combination of desk studies and field surveys (Extended Phase I Habitat survey, water vole survey and little ringed plover/black redstart surveys) were undertaken. No protected or notable species were recorded during the surveys. The habitats and species assemblage on site are of negligible value and so were not included in the impact assessment. Designated sites are located within the vicinity of the development site, including the internationally designated Severn Estuary. Impacts on the designated sites were assessed in line with best practice guidelines. Strict adherence to pollution prevention guidelines will result in a negligible July 2009 6
residual impact on the designated sites during both the construction and operational phase of the development. Enhancement of: flood compensation ponds and creation of rubble log piles as refuge hibernacula for amphibians and reptiles will result in an overall net gain in biodiversity. Water and Drainage An assessment has been undertaken to determine the potential effects of the proposed development on flood risk, drainage, water quality and water resources. Measures to prevent or minimise negative impacts have been determined and the subsequent residual effects after these measures are implemented assessed. The potential effects can be summarised as: Temporary construction phase impacts including contamination of surface water resources and increase in localised flood risk. Permanent operational phase impacts including positive impact on water resources. Alteration of the surface water drainage regime (and associated effects, including discharge rates and flood risk). The local rhine network is not monitored by the Environment Agency for water quality but has been assessed as part of this report. The proposed development is located within the tidal flood extent of the Severn Estuary and the floodplain for the local rhines. The risks of flooding on the site and on the surrounding area have been calculated and an appropriately sized flood compensation pond has been designed to mitigate against these risks. This includes any increased surface water runoff associated with new hardstanding and ensures there is no significant residual flood risk. The implementation of mitigation measures will ensure that there are no significant residual or cumulative effects on water quality or any important and sensitive water resources during the construction or operational phase. Following the implementation of the recommended mitigation measures no significant residual effects in terms of flooding, drainage, surface water quality and surface water resources are anticipated during construction or operation. Once the site is operational there will be some beneficial effects to the local surface water network as the surface water and groundwater recharge of the Kings Weston Rhine (west) will be much cleaner. To mitigate against altering the drainage regime and possible contamination of surface water during construction a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) will be developed, to manage and control all the construction activities. Contaminated Land Geo-environmental investigations have been undertaken across the whole Access 18 development area and outline remedial strategies have been agreed with the Environment Agency and Bristol City Council for the various areas of the whole development. A further geo-environmental investigation has been undertaken on the application site to further inform both the environmental impact assessment and a remedial strategy specific to the site. The current concentrations of contaminants present within the Made Ground were found to present risks to the human health of site users, surface waters and shallow groundwater. A remediation strategy has been developed to ensure that once the site is operational it will no longer present significant risks to human health or the water environment. This will involve some remediation works being carried out during the construction phase. The Construction Environmental Management Plan will include measures to avoid accidental spillages of potentially polluting substances. The Environmental Permit that the MBT will operate under requires that the quality of the land does not deteriorate due to the operation of the facility. July 2009 7
Summary and Conclusions The impact assessment has sought to understand both the direct and indirect effects of the MBT facility during construction and operation and has considered their duration. Generally, the environmental impact assessment has determined that the during the construction phase there will be some minor adverse impacts relating to noise, dust, landscape and surface water. These are all short term impacts typical of activities on construction sites. Once the site is operational the overall environmental assessment has determined that there should be long term minor beneficial effects on the surrounding environment when all mitigation measures are taken into account. The benefits to the surrounding environment are borne through improvements to: the local surface water within the rhine network. the biodiversity of the site. the improved visual effect on the local area by bringing a derelict site into use. July 2009 8
Figures July 2009