MARCH 2024ENVIRONMENTAL BUSINESS REVIEW9 the ballast from the soil thereby increasing the reuse potential. The project recovered 1,360 tons of ballast for reuse. The soil excavation brought different challenges. Railroad ROWs typically have elevated arsenic and lead levels, and this ROW was no different. Our approach included treating the impacted soil onsite and transporting it as non-hazardous material offsite. The treatment unit held a temporary permit to operate and used a proprietary customized formula to achieve target concentration levels. The soil hauled offsite was valued as cover material for landfills. Over 20,000 tons of impacted soil was delivered to landfills as cover. This is an impressive diversion rate for a demolition and excavation project! It took vision to design the scope with the concept in mind, planning to evaluate the potential waste streams and understand which may have a market, planning to devise methods to extract the materials so that they CAN be diverted from a landfill, field management to ensure the methods are followed, and project management to follow through, laying the rules for the project, documenting processes along the way, and drafting summary reports to document the materials' destinations.Also, recovering and recycling actually saved the project budget! The soil alone is a great example. Had the project disposed of 20,000 tons of impacted soil without treating it, the project would have spent approximately $1.5M more. The moral of this project is to stay open to alternative methods of your scheduled waste materials. Don't sleep on the potential of secondary markets, recycling, or onsite treatment. Railroad ROWs typically have elevated arsenic and lead levels, and this ROW was no different. Our approach included treating the impacted soil onsite and transporting it as non-hazardous material offsite
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