Escrick Waste Treatment Facility

The smell is linked to the storage of a large quantity of mixed waste fines consisting of municipal waste and construction-demolition waste. This type of waste contains biodegradable matter.  Due to unsuitable storage conditions, waste started degrading and producing odorous gas. The migration of the gas off-site is what is causing the odour.
 

Waste fines are residues from mechanical waste recycling processes. Waste fines stored on site are residues generated after separating out the larger materials from mixed municipal waste (black bin waste) and construction – demolition waste (soils and stones, wood, concrete, bricks). This type of waste contains  biodegradable materials that households dispose of in their black bins.

Waste removal started on 17 July 2023. The company has committed to removing the material as soon as possible but, due to the quantity involved, it could take up to 4 months to complete the task. This timeframe has been estimated based on an average removal rate of 500 tonnes per day, Monday to Friday. As of 26 July 2023, the company was ahead of this schedule.

Acumen Waste Services Ltd’s waste permit allows them to accept and store waste fines, however the permit requires that waste is managed and stored appropriately. Permit breaches have been identified and recorded but these do not relate the storage of non-permited waste.  Details of the permit breaches that have been recorded are available below.

 CAR form 16/06/23 CAR form 27/06/23 CAR form 10/07/23                    CAR form 27/07/23

Please see the above statement provided by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). If people have any health concerns they should contact their local GP or call the NHS helpline 111 in the first instance.  

The odour is caused primarily by the venting of gas that is being produced as the waste fines degrade.  This is a passive process and will occur on an on-going basis while the waste remains in situ.  There is nothing that can be done immediately that will prevent the passive venting of gas and therefore odour.  After careful consideration of the options it has been decided that the most appropriate course of action is for the material to be removed from site and sent for appropriate treatment and disposal at appropriately permitted sites elsewhere.  However, due to the quantity of material involved removal will take some time.  Acumen has estimated it may take up to 4 months.  During this time there may be increased potential from emissions of odour.

Non compliances with the permit have been scored on our compliance assessments and records of these are at the bottom of this page. We cannot comment on the ongoing investigation at present, however we take offending seriously and act in accordance with our Enforcement and Sanctions Policy which can be found on gov.uk here: Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The use of an Enforcement Notice is being kept under review.  We have decided that a Notice is not currently required because the operator is implementing its compliance action plan voluntarily.  If this situation changes we will review whether use of an Enforcement Notice is appropriate.

The compliance action plan that is being implemented aims to remove on average 500 tonnes of waste each day, five days a week.  This is a very significant undertaking in terms of logistics.  The fact that it may take up to four months to remove the fines waste is a reflection of the quantity of material that requires removal rather than a slow removal rate.  We believe that Acumen are committed to removing the waste as quickly as possible.  At the end of July 2023 Acumen was ahead of schedule, having removed on average more than 500 tonnes per day, five days per week and having removed approximately one quarter of the estimated total quantity.

The gas that is being produced contains methane.  Methane in air can result in an explosive atmosphere when the methane concentration is in the range of 5% – 17%.  We have measured the near surface concentration of methane at or immediately above the surface of the waste pile and it is much lower than the lower explosive limit of 5%.  The highest concentration we measured during our survey was 2,600 parts per million.  This equates to 0.26%.  This is the highest concentration at source.  The concentration will then reduce as the gas disperses away from the source.  So, we are confident that there is no risk of explosion on the Acumen site or off-site as a result of the gas that is being produced as the waste degrades.

 

Acumen have informed us that they are aware of the recent problems with traffic management on the business park and in response they have employed a traffic marshal to improve management of queuing vehicles. Please be aware that traffic management on public or private highways or roads is not within the Environment Agency’s remit and we have no enforcement powers that we can use in relation to this issue.

Acumen waste services Ltd have deployed several odour suppression units that are spraying fine mist of water that may look like smoke from far.

These units spray a scented mist into the air and can act to reduce or mask emissions of odour. The fragrance currently in use is ‘cotton fresh’ and is similar to laundry detergent. You may notice this smell during the waste removal period. You may also see the misting units in operation.

The reports we receive to our incident hotline are important in helping us assess the problem. Our staff will log the specific details of pollution that you are experiencing. If you are able to report incidences of odours immediately, this will help us respond. 

Although we are unable to attend in response to every call and cannot resolve this nuisance immediately, reported incidents are one way in which we assess how a site is performing and whether improvements are working. 

This is one of our mobile monitoring facilities.  It is continually monitoring the methane and hydrogen sulphide in the air as surrogates (indicators) of odour.  We are doing this monitoring because we believe it will help us understand and demonstrate the level of odour impact.  

The receipt of fines waste has been voluntarily suspended by the operator and so the type of waste that is causing the odour issue is no longer being accepted by Acumen Waste Services Ltd.  Acumen Waste Services Ltd are continuing to accept street cleaning residues but these are not linked to the current odour issue.  There are also two other permits on land adjacent to the Acumen Waste Services Ltd site that are operated by a separate company, Escrick Environmental Services Ltd.  The waste associated with these permits is not thought to be contributing to the current odour issue either.  Waste may still be being imported by Escrick Environmental Services Ltd.  We understand the concern about the high number of vehicle movements but these are principally linked to the efforts being made to promptly remove the odorous material.  They are not indicative of more odorous material being deposited at the site.