Abstract
Sustainability considerations have become widely recognised in contaminated land management and are now accepted as an important component of remediation planning and implementation around the world. The Sustainable Remediation Forum for the UK (SuRF-UK) published guidance on sustainability criteria for consideration in drawing up (or framing) assessments, organised across 15 “headline” categories, five for the environment element of sustainability, five for the social, and five for the economic. This paper describes how the SuRF-UK indicator guidance was developed, and the rationale behind its structure and approach. It describes its use in remediation option appraisal in the UK, and reviews the international papers that have applied or reviewed it. It then reviews the lessons learned from its initial use and the opinions and findings of international commentators, and concludes with recommendations on how the indicator categories might be further refined in the future. The key findings of this review are that the SuRF-UK framework and indicator guidance is well adopted into practice in the UK. It is widely recognised as the most appropriate mechanism to support sustainability-based decision making in contaminated land decision making. It has influenced the development of other national and international guidance and standards on sustainable remediation. However, there is room for some fine tuning of approach based on the lessons learned during its application.
Highlights
Despite much progress, significant work remains in tackling the global land contamination legacy and its public health and environmental impacts
There is a trade-off between scope and measurability, and Sustainable Remediation Forum for the UK (SuRF-UK)’s approach is to start with qualitative assessment to allow for the widest possible scope, which is seen as a robust basis for sustainability assessment [95]
The key findings of this review are that the SuRF-UK framework and indicator guidance is well adopted into practice in the UK, where it is widely recognised as the most appropriate mechanism to support sustainability-based decision making in contaminated land decision making
Summary
Significant work remains in tackling the global land contamination legacy and its public health and environmental impacts. The 2017 global market for environmental remediation technologies is estimated to be US$68 billion [3]. These costs represent complex site management effort, and it is important that this effort is made as sustainable as possible. Contaminated land is managed to mitigate the risks it poses to human health, ecology, water, or other receptors [4]. The international consensus is that risk-based land management provides the best available framework for decisions because (1) it provides an objective way to link actions to the prevention of harm, e.g., to human health or the wider environment; (2) it provides a rationale for how to intervene, i.e., which source–pathway–receptor linkages need to be broken to successfully mitigate unacceptable risks; (3) it provides a rationale to prioritise limited resources at the most serious/urgent problems/problem sites [5,6,7]. What sustainable remediation constitutes is sustainable and risk-based management, which broadens the risk management outlook to ensure that reducing the potential for harm from land contamination avoids unintentional consequences (e.g., emissions to air/water or excessive use of materials and energy), and is broadly beneficial to society [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
