Sentinel Business Awards

Fantastic news!  SBEN members, Staffordshire Highways, were successful in winning the Environmental Business of the Year category, for ‘Gully Waste Recycling’ in Staffordshire.  This award was once again, sponsored by Michelin Tyre PLC.

The project takes debris washed into the county’s road-side drains and puts it back on the land as compost - saving landfill space and many lorry journeys!

Staffordshire Highways, which is a Virtual Joint Venture between Staffordshire County Council and Enterprise plc.

Staffordshire has just under 160,000 gully pots whose sole purpose is the removal of surface water run-off from the carriageway and to prevent any sediment from being carried into the drainage system. With the frequency of cleaning being at least annually this produces a total of 60 tonnes of dry waste every week.

The previous operation employed the use of 6 vehicles and 12 operatives, which on average serviced a total of 600 gullies per week. This included disposal of the waste, twice a week for each vehicle, in Telford, Shropshire which was on average a 4 hour round trip as no disposal facility was available within Staffordshire.

A business case was built around the construction of a new dewatering facility in central Staffordshire providing benefits in reduced miles travelled, fuel consumption and disposal costs. A total cost saving of over £60,000 was identified as achievable.  This in turn provided environmental benefits of reduced CO2 emissions and waste disposal to landfill, whilst providing a compostable recycled material for reuse and a reduced carbon footprint for Staffordshire County Council.

The new facility was constructed at Stone in Staffordshire on land adjacent to a sewage treatment works, using the latest design principles to ensure the detritus is separated from the contaminated water effectively.

Key Facts:

• Carbon reduction saving on fuel in 2009 - 34 tonnes.
• Carbon reduction from diversion of waste from landfill - 432 tonnes.
• Reduction in number of transport miles - 28,680 miles.
• Tonnage of material recycled into compost, diverted from landfill – 3326 tonnes.
• Tonnage of recycled material used in construction of facility - 3600 tonnes.
• Litres of grey water recycled at the new facility – 9800 litres per week.

If you have any success stories that you would like us to include in the next issue, please contact Gill on 0845 607 5310 or gill.garner@staffordshire.gov.uk