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Where was the landfill site?

Beddington Farm landfill and recycling site

The waste management site where the group lived is owned by Viridor Waste Management and is located near Croydon in Surrey. The site is 130 hectares and houses several waste management operations including:

• Landfill
• Gas Utilisation
• Recycling
• Composting
• Sludge Management for Thames Water

Landfill Operations

• Landfilling areas on the site will occupy approximately 92 hectares (227 acres) in total.



• Landfilling started at the site in January 1999 and there are approximately 11 years' worth of tipping left.



• The site is classified as a 'non-hazardous'.



• Filling will be in 10 landfill containment cells which will eventually amalgamate together to form a domed landform.



• Around 325,000 tonnes per year of domestic and commercial waste is received at the site.



• There is an engineered clay liner and capping overlaying to protect the underlying chalk aquifer.



• The location has strict ecological monitoring and management.



• The location implements strong vermin control measures to prevent rats from living on the site.



• Most landfill sites in the UK implement strict controls to minimise the levels of birds on landfill, often employing the services of a falconer to limit bird numbers. The high numbers of birds at Beddington are therefore not typical. This is because the site is a conservation area due to its importance as a habitat for inland waterfowl and wading birds. A wide diversity of birds, many of them rare or endangered, have been sighted, including the killdeer, lesser yellowlegs, citrine wagtail, red-throated pipits and rustic bunting.



• Somewhere in the region of 2,600,000 tonnes of rubbish has gone into the entire Beddington site since it opened in 1999.



• The area being tipped into that is visible from our dump is called cell 6. Tipping started in the cell in July 2005 and recently finished in July 2007.



• Somewhere in the region of 700,000 tonnes has gone into cell 6.



• The cell has the capacity for around 600,000m³.



• From the base of the cell the average height is around 20 meters.

Recycling Centre

The purpose of the recycling centre is to increase the proportion of the waste stream that is either recycled or composted and to remove as much bio-degradable waste as possible from ending up in the landfill.

Skip Waste Recycling Facility

• The skip waste facility is designed to handle up to 40,000 tonnes a year of skip and construction waste.



• Any metal, soils and hardcore found in the construction waste are separated for recycling, and any wood found can be removed for shredding and chipping. The remaining waste is taken to be landfilled.

Green Waste Composting Facility

• The green waste composting facility is one of the first DEFRA (London Recycling Fund) grant aided composting plants in the country.



• It uses state of the art 'in-vessel' composting technology to control the composting process.



• It is designed to handle 15,000 tonnes per year of green waste.



• Currently the composting facility receives green waste from the London Boroughs of Sutton, Merton and Croydon.



• Following composting in the 'in-vessel' enclosed tunnels the material is placed on a maturation area where it is turned regularly.



• Finally the compost is sold as a soil conditioner and has been distributed to Wimbledon Tennis Courts and Ascot Race Course.