NICOLE 2012 Sustainable Remediation Working Group Report

Title:

Resource Type:

document --> guidance / decision support

Country:

International organisation- network or project

Year:

2012

Availability:

Downloadable Document

Author 1/Producer:

NICOLE Sustainable Remediation Working Group

Author / Producer Type:

Professional / trade / industry associations, institutes or networks

Report / download web link (=direct link):

http://www.nicole.org

EUGRIS Keyword(s):

Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Assessment tools
Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Economic
Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Environmental
Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Social
Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Sustainable / green remediation

Short description:

In September 2010, NICOLE’s Sustainable Remediation Work Group (SRWG) published a Road Map to Sustainable Remediation, which was the primary deliverable of a two-year project. These chapters provide the background context and the full technical details for this project. Over the past decade, good practice for contaminated land management has been based on assessing the risk to human health, water, buildings and the wider environment. Increasingly, professionals working in the contaminated land management (CLM) sector recognise that sustainability considerations are a key factor in holistic solutions for contaminated land management. The need for considering sustainability in contaminated land decision-making was recognised more than ten years ago by the CLARINET network. The risk-based land management approach (RBLM) elaborated by CLARINET in 2002 included several sustainability concepts (Vegter et al. 2002). It is now widely acknowledged, in and beyond Europe, that a more comprehensive approach to remediation projects should incorporate sustainability principles – integrating environmental, social and economical aspects (as described by the Brundtland Report, 1987). . In 2008, NICOLE launched a working group to assess the application of sustainable principles in remediation projects and to investigate how these principles could be developed and promoted. From the outset, the NICOLE Sustainable Remediation Work Group has recognised the need to tackle this new and complex concept from a set of underpinning principles. Five key principles were developed which then structured the project work: - Communication is the primary barrier and enabler of sustainable remediation (SR). Implementing a SR approach requires building trust between stakeholders ideally from the outset. Our community of practitioners has great experience in technical solutions but can be hesitant in determining when and how best to seek dialogue. However, good communication is crucial for defining a common understanding of a Sustainable Remediation management plan that is accepted by the main stakeholders. - Risk based land management (RBLM) reflects current best practice for contaminated land management, and conceptually has a strong synergy with sustainable remediation. However, inappropriate use of soil and water quality criteria is neither consistent with RBLM nor sustainable remediation. For example an overly precautionary or conservative approach to criteria, particularly where applied in a generic way, may lead to unnecessary environmental, social and economic burdens as a result of inappropriate and inflexible remediation requirements. - Experience in the use of socio-economic factors in contaminated land decision-making is only at an emerging stage and many practitioners may require support and guidance in their application in contaminated land decision making. The choice of factors to consider and how to do this are important to the success of a SR project and a greater shared experience in practical case studies is needed. - Demonstrating the practical delivery of sustainability performance by a SR project is a critical success factor to build trust among stakeholders. Therefore an important aspect of SR is how to measure sustainability during a remediation project with buy-in from stakeholders. - Finally, and associated with the first item on Communication, a practitioner-led “bottom-up” approach is seen as the most efficient way to promote SR in Europe. A vital requirement for this is to start compiling Case Studies to share experience in applying SR, both to provide practical examples of the “added value” of SR, and to support the development of better decision-making methodologies.

Submitted By:

Professor Paul Bardos WhoDoesWhat? Last update: 01/05/2012