Good news

Carharrack Playing field has just been awarded £13,920 by Cory Environmental Trust; I was able as a board member of the trust give details on the history of the project and highlighted the real need for new play equipment.

Policing

On the 14 of December I will be meeting the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police Steve Otter at Middlemoor in Exeter, I will be raising issues on the reduced police cover and especially the co- joining of the beats of Redruth South with the Mining Villages leaving one Neighbourhood Bear Manager PC Rob Denton the role of now covering a population of 11,800.

He is supported by two PCSO’s and they do a very good job but they have limited powers and at present cannot work beyond 10pm.

As a County Council member of Cornwall Sea Fisheries it was reported at the recent meeting that the government was looking to privatise the Air Sea Rescue Service, I have put a motion forward to the next County Council meeting on the 20 of November and I hope that the other council member support this.

Here is the motion

Save our Air Sea Rescue Services

During the recent Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee meeting on the26th of October 07 concern was raised over the privatisation of the Air Sea Rescue Service, there was a genuine fear that the lives of all that use our coastal waters would be placed at a greater risk.

In Cornwall we owe a great deal of gratitude to our Air Sea Rescue Services both Naval and RAF their heroics over the years are legendary and recognised through out the world, major incidents such like those at Boscastle proved just how valuable it is to have such a well disciplined and co-ordinated military presence here in Cornwall and North Devon.

We call upon Cornwall County Council to support this motion and strongly oppose any such action by writing a letter to government and the MOD calling on them to urgently reconsider their proposals to privatise this highly valued service.

Mark Kaczmarek


United Mines Land Fill Site

Here is my reply to SITA on the recent problems caused by the land fill site, his letter is printed below.

Dear Mr Higgins

I would agree that it was unfortunate that our first contact was via Radio Cornwall, CES when running the site held regular liaison meetings four invited parish councils and the associated County Councillors unfortunately SITA’s cavalier approach chose not to.

The gas extraction in the old site is common knowledge it is the gas from the rotten waste in the new site that is causing so much distress to residents no gas extraction there at the moment. This was not mentioned in your recent consultation on works to be carried out.

Your odour monitoring/inspection should be done by persons that do not work on site, those who do seem to have built up some kind of immunity to bad smells; best to be done by an independent body with clear nostrils.

The daily cover at the end of each working day is not just to prevent wind blown litter but to prevent vermin carrying rubbish away, the smell when lifted in the morning is absolutely terrible, this type of smell has been present day and night over the last few weeks when the easterly winds have been dominant.

Your SITA help line number to log complaints must be made freely available to all residents living near the site and any complaints must be passed onto Environmental Health at Carrick and Kerrier DC and the Environment Agency.

Regards

Mark Kaczmarek





Dear Mr Kaczmarek

Firstly I would like to say that it was unfortunate that our first contact was via radio but that I welcomed the opportunity to discuss the odour issue with you, Lawrence and the stations' listeners. This issue is something that SITA, the site management and I are taking very seriously and we are working closely with the Environment Agency and have an action plan in place.

Gas Extraction

The most effective way to control odour is active gas extraction, the gas being generated by the landfill is extracted and utilised within the landfill gas engines or high temperature flare, SITA's gas contractor CLP Envirogas are currently installing an additional 40 gas wells. We are currently extracting around 2500 - 3000m per hour from the old site and the extension area the volume will increase when the additional wells are connected. The gas is combusted at high temperature (producing upto 5Mwh of electricity) which destroys the odour and the emissions are tightly controlled within the terms of our PPC Permit.The gas wells are being installed in an old area of the site and additionally in an area of the site which is at final waste level and is currently being capped. This is only one of the measures SITA are currently undertaking to combat the generation of odours.

Waste Surveillance/Acceptance

Waste loads are checked and any excessively odourous load is rejected at the weighbridge or treated as a difficult waste and is buried at the foot of the tipping face for immediate burial.

Odour Monitoring/Inspection

The site management team undertake a regular inspection of the capped, tipping and perimeter areas to identify any odour emmisions and actions taken to remediate. The inspections are recorded and all actions are recorded and followed up.

Odour Neutralisers

The odour neutraliser atomisers are located around the perimeter of the tipping area, the system is checked daily for operation and the nozzles and equipment are serviced every two weeks to ensure that the system remains effective. Different neutralising products are trialed and we are currently using a product with a cherry scent. These products are neutralisers and we do not rely on the product to mask odour but the scent does give SITA some measure of the dispersion and effectiveness of the system. The perimeter of the tipping area is covered at all times although the system has recently been modified to allow us the felexibility to concentrate the dispersion on different boundaries depending upon the wind direction.

Capping

An area of 6000m2 is being capped in the next two weeks, this has an effect in two ways; firstly, waste odours are reduced as the cap provides an airtight and water tight seal to the waste; secondly, the performance of the gas extraction system beneath the cap.

Landfill Daily Cover

We are required by our permit to cover the days' landfilled waste at the end of each working day, this prevent wind blown litter and reduces overnight waste odours. To avoid perched leachate (water ponding within the waste and not infiltrating to the base for extraction) we are required to remove this material at the start of the next day's tipping operation. The removal of the daily cover could increase the chance of odour release at the start of the days operations and we have reviewed this process with the Environmnent Agency and with their agreement we now have a procedure that allows us to keep the daily cover in place if the atmospheric conditions are unfavourable, i.e easterly winds.

To conclude, SITA are taking this situation very seriously and we currently employ a series of measures that are routinely monitored for effectiveness. We recently wrote to many local residents to make them aware of works we are undertaking on site. We are in the process of organising dates for a liaison meeting to discuss some of the recent issues and would like to hold an open day for ineterested parties to see what happens to their waste when it enters United Mines Landfill Site. SITA will be writing to yourself, the parish council and local residents to suggest dates, venue etc. In the meantime should you require any clarification or information on any issue at United Mines Landfill please do not hesitate to contact me at the direct line number below or via email.

Our SITA General Enquiries / Helpdesk is available for anyone wishing to comment on any SITA services, all calls are logged and responded to, the Helpdesk contact number is 08456 300300.

Stuart Higgins
Treatment and Project Manager
SITA UK
United Mines
Landfill Site
St. Day
Redruth
Cornwall TR16 5HU
Phone: +44 (0) 1209 823831
Fax: +44 (0)1209 821761
Website: http://www.sita.co.uk