Important update on our KTP project with Manchester Metropolitan University
For those who may not have heard about our innovation, here is the breakdown.
With increases on landfill tax, the demand for ‘waste away’ services and with the environmental impacts UBU decided that we needed to find a way to treat our customers’ waste. The solution we invested in was a bespoke wet waste treatment plant from CDE Group which separates the waste into a number of recoverable streams such as sand, aggregates and fine residues (known as ‘cake’).
The ‘cake’ is where the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) comes in.
UBU and Manchester Metropolitan University were awarded the KTP in October 2022 and the associate position was awarded to Daniel Niepsch who has been gathering data to demonstrate the sustainability of the fine material.
The initial work on this concept was born out of UBUs sponsorship of PAS115, which was published in October 2021. This BSI standard sought to establish a specification for non-hazardous road sweeping waste to be used as a soil or soil amendment to meet the demands of an ever depleting natural resource.
The KTP reviews PAS 115 as a product comparator to a number of virgin material.
Our project aims to reduce environmental and ecological impacts which will help to preserve landfill capacity and natural resources. To learn more about depleting soils read our thoughts here.
Here’s what we’ve been doing:
12 month sampling campaign:
To investigate PAS 115, we commenced a 12-month sampling campaign back in March 2023. The campaign aims to gather information on the physico-chemical properties of the fine (“waste-derived”) material in comparison to commercially available (and partially certified) tree soils and examine the wet and dry input from our sweepers into our treatment plant. So far, the results have helped us to understand the waste derived material, showing consistency in texture and moisture content.
Ageing Trial:
UBU and Manchester Met are trialling materials around our depot with different batches of soil and soil amendments to evaluate how the different blends perform to grow birch trees. This is great for our customers as it will provide them with a circular economy solution for the waste that they produce and UBU collect and treat.
Our application:
We submitted our initial opinion application to the Environment Agency and for the KTP and the team, this is a huge milestone, We will keep you updated on any developments.
Next steps:
We will be starting our Ecotoxicological trials (following British Standards Institution – BSI guidelines) as another way to measure environmental risk. These trials test the reproduction and toxicity on redworms in our recovered soil to see the effects and risks to soil fauna.
We are going to be conducting a human health risk assessment using chemical data to ascertain the risks though different exposure routes such as dermal, inhalation and ingestion.
We will also be showcasing our KTP project in May at SETAC 2024 (Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) which is taking place in Seville (Spain).
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