Case Record - Good practice on the M40 - waste and wildlife

Details:

Date: Location: Business Group:

2003 M40, UK Carillion Highway Maintenance

Activities:

The M40 have found some actions that improve their performance on biodiversity and wildlife issues whilst also reducing their waste streams.

The contract staff at the M40 were conscious of the amount of waste wood and pond sludge they were sending to landfill that could be used for other purposes.
When they thought about it they realised that there were alternative to paying for the waste to become landfill.

The leftover wood from thinning out trees or from trees felled as a result of an RTA would normally be sent back to the depot for removal as a waste. Their great idea was to stack the logs to make a wildlife habitat. This is a recognised land management technique and was inspired by Alan Boss’s knowledge of land management from his days on the farm. Sections of logs roughly 2 feet long are stacked in a pile and held in place by stakes if on the bank and wire.

They immediately provide habitat for beetles, and insects, for frogs, lizards and snakes and even small mammals like the rare door mouse, voles and so on. As the logs rot down they also become home for a range of lichen, mosses, ferns and other plants and when fully rotted they help to recycle nutrients back into the soil. So that’s a win win for the wildlife and the budgets

But they didn’t stop there…
Next they started thinking about other potential waste/wildlife wins and decided that the muck they pulled out of their balancing ponds could be spread on local fields again reducing the need for special waste consignments. After testing and the approval from the lab analysis of the contents of the waste they were given the OK. Another benefit of disposing of the waste in this way is that it allows insects and invertebrates to find their way back to the watercourse and so maintains the biodiversity of the balancing pond.

Business Benefits:

• Reduced Costs – less landfill tax
• Pollution risk minimised - minimised land pollution from landfilling waste
• Improved biodiversity – habitats created for local wildlife
• Improve customer relations - complying with Biodiversity Action Plan
• Improved community relations – engaging with local people
• Employee motivation – initiating new innovative methods with visible improvements for biodiversity