Water treatment plant at landfill site approved

A landfill operator has been given the green light to build and operate a plant to treat liquid draining from a Staffordshire waste site.

Landfilling was suspended at the site at Swynnerton Road, Cold Meece, near Eccleshall, more than a decade ago.

But leachate – the liquid that drains from the landfill – still needs to be dealt with to remove chemicals, pollutants and toxins that could harm the environment.

On Thursday, Staffordshire County Council's planning committee granted permission for Biffa Waste Services to construct and run a leachate treatment plant and equipment at the site.

Committee members were told the proposals would improve the existing treatment of leachate and should not cause any adverse impact to the environment.

A report to the committee said: "The remaining void space at the landfill site is a valuable long-term resource for the disposal of hazardous waste.

"The applicant is working to reduce the quantity of leachate that has built up within the site over several years, to a level that can be maintained long-term."

The current method of leachate removal by lorry is considered unsustainable, and Biffa has explored different methods to treat it on site to leave it in a condition suitable for discharge direct to surface water in the area.

"This [plan will also] minimise the need to export leachate from the site by road," the report notes.

Eight members of the public had raised concerns about the proposals, including over potential noise and odour.

But committee members heard the plant would operate at a sound level of measured background noise.

The report to the committee stated that around 10 tankers per week would still be needed initially to remove "legacy leachate", but this would reduce after about three years.

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