Assessing the true technical/environmental impacts of contaminated land remediation - a case study of containment, disposal and no action

For contaminated land remediation to be sustainable, the full impacts of applying a remediation technology have to be compared to those of leaving the site untreated. This paper assesses and compares the technical and environmental impacts of taking no remedial action, with those of two remediation technologies: in situ containment with stabilization/solidification (S/S) and disposal to landfill. Criteria for the assessment of the technical sustainability of the remediation of contaminated land, established as part of this work, are employed. The comparison is presented in the form of a case study based on a real remediation project in the UK. The results indicate that both landfilling and S/S ameliorate the impacts that would arise with no action, but introduce potentially significant effects of a different nature.