Norfolk County Council

“Alpheus has provided Norfolk County Council with disposal routes for the landfill leachate for circa 16 years and continue to provide this service at present.” – Norfolk County Council

The Background

Norfolk County Council (NCC) has a duty of care as well as a responsibility to ensure that its landfill sites do not pose a threat to the environment.

Landfill gas and leachate are by-products of landfill treatment and it is the Council’s priority to manage them appropriately. The Council currently disposes leachate from several closed landfill sites. These landfills are now no longer permitted to accept new waste, with the latest closing in 2014.

The Service

Alpheus has provided NCC with disposal routes for the landfill leachate for circa 16 years and we continue to provide this service at present.
On behalf of NCC, we manage the collection and disposal of landfill leachate from five of Norfolk County Councils closed landfill sites.

The leachate is transported via licenced waste hauliers to our licenced waste treatment plant – the Alpheus Whitlingham Waste Treatment Centre (WTC) – for treatment and disposal. On average, we manage and recycle 12,000 m3 of leachate per year for NCC.

The Implementation

Over the last 16 years, the sources, strengths and volumes of the leachates have varied considerably. To manage the disposal process, we carry out regular testing off site at accredited labs and also on site to decide on the best way to treat the waste as it is produced.

The leachates are tankered to our licensed facility at Whitlingham for storage, settlement, separation and blending before being further treated at Anglian Water’s Wastewater Recycling Centre (WRC).

Together this ensures a high-quality and compliant final discharge to the environment. Furthermore, the WRC biosolids recycling and gas production programmes ensure a high proportion of recycling and sustainability is achieved through the on-site use of renewable energy.

All waste movements are logged on our specialist software, which helps to manage the movement and reception of waste and produces all required duty-of-care paperwork.

The Outcomes

Alpheus has also developed and implemented a series of measures to ensure the health and safety of the hauliers at the landfill site collection points. These measures include loading point checklists, escalation procedures, spill drill training and driver information packs.

Alpheus has adjusted its operations to accommodate these changes, striving at all levels to provide an excellent, cost-effective and compliant service to support NCC’s environmental obligations.