Redhill EMAS 2006 - Biffa

EXTERNAL RELATIONS08Redhill Landfill Site's local liaison group continues to meet on a regular basis.The meetings, which are open to all, provide a forum for the review ofoperations and a discussion of local issues. We hope that the meetings willcontinue to help develop positive links with the local community, where livelydebate about national and local waste issues can be made and help createan open platform for locals to communicate their concerns or fears aboutour activities.To continue this theme, we have produced a sitenewsletter which is printed every six months andcirculated to local residents and parish councils. The aim isto provide an informal link with the local community andprovide an up-to-date bulletin on site activities andgeneral matters. Not forgetting an invitation to localresidents to take the opportunity to visit the site.During 2005/06, we received three complaints; this figureis down on last year. This years issues have been: twoodour complaints and one report of a hawk killing a birdin a neighboring garden. Regarding odour problems,extensive monitoring and the introduction of newtechniques has facilitated our understanding of gasproduction and emissions. Exposed areas of waste arenow installed with gas scavenger collection pipes andwaste flanks are post drilled to a shallow depth so thatgas extraction pipes capture potentially fugitive emissions.We have also installed a new weather station that is setup to warn the site staff in the event that wind strengthand or the prevailing direction is towards an area ofpopulation. This will enable us to double check that thede-odorising system is in operation during any at riskperiods.The policy of progressively capping and restoringcompleted waste cells and applying positive gasextraction at the earliest opportunity is one of the bestmethods of dealing with the problem of landfill gasodour. De-odourising systems have a part to play in theoverall odour control scheme and at Redhill these type ofsystems are in use at the most sensitive points around thesite. We also conduct a thorough programme for thetreatment of flies, currently the operational cells aresprayed to control fly infestation on a twice weekly basisand more frequent during the summer months, thisactivity is carried out after the daily closure of the siteand within favourable weather conditions.When investigating the bird kill incident we checked theFalconers log and found that none of our birds werebeing flown off or near the property at the time of thereported incident. We can only surmise that the hawkcarrying out the attack was a wild bird not under ourcontrol.We also received a report from one of our neighbourswho expressed a concern as to the safety of a treebordering their property. As a result of this report wehave inspected all of the trees on the South Easternboundary of the site and have instigated a rollingprogramme of both inspection and care of all trees withinour site.All complaints received during the year were immediatelyinvestigated in accordance with company procedures andprotocols. Each complaint was dealt with sympatheticallyand measures taken to reduce the sites impact on thelocal community.In order to enable us to act swiftly to any concerns wehave introduced an e-mail address specifically dedicatedto concerns and complaints. The introduction of this willenable us to instantly react to issues such as odourcomplaints and other matters which demand immediateattention and rectification.Due to engineering works scheduled for the summer of 2006we will be unable to hold a site open day. We howeverintend to hold one during 2007.The Marsh Project, which we have detailed in previousstatements continues to flourish under the watchful eye ofSurrey County Council environmental enhancement officer.The Landfill Tax funded Biffaward scheme renovated theflood plain habitat area immediately to the North of the site.The project was undertaken in conjunction with aneighbouring mineral operator, Surrey County Council, theEnvironment Agency and the Wildlife Trust. The NationalCycle route crosses the Northern most extreme of the site.Completed last summer, this section of the cycle route makesthe connection between Redhill and Cormongers Lane to theEast.School and other visitsAs mentioned earlier in the report school trips are on theincrease and below are some comments made by LouiseMiller our educational contact, who co-ordinates theeducational visits to the site;“Over the last 4 years, Redhill landfill site has been aninvaluable partner in our project to support local schools inrecycling education. The children taking part in “Ready,Steady, Recycle” have the chance to do lots of activities to putacross waste minimisation messages, but the greatest impact isalways made by seeing the scale of the problem, first-hand.In the last year 410 pupils have visited as part of our project.However it's not just the pupils that get the recycling message.Several years after their visit, parents of the children who havevisited the site will be proud to tell me about the changes theyhave made to create less rubbish going to landfill.”Louise Miller, Education Manager, Gatton Park EducationOur external relations policy and in particular our policy ofopenly encouraging organised visits to the site resulted in agroup from the University of the Third Age visiting the site inApril 2006. The chairperson of this organisation sent to us aletter of thanks that contained the following quote.“All too often we hear of people objecting to waste sites,without we now realise, knowing what they are talking about. Itwas so rewarding to see just how comprehensively the Biffasite at Redhill is planned and managed and I am sure that theinformation gained by us will be passed on endlessly.”Anne Workman. 05/04/06The letter from Louise Miller and the quote from AnneWorkman's letter of thanks are both testament andjustification of the external relations policy of Biffa Redhill.3435