Miljøprojekt, 886; Teknologiudviklingsprogrammet for jord- og grundvandsforurening – Jordstrømme i Danmark

Handling of Soil in Denmark

Summary and conclusions

The present report on ”Soil Currents” presents a survey of excess soil from building and construction projects in 2001. Furthermore, the report estimates the approximate costs of the various forms of soil handling , and the future conditions affecting the capacity of removal of soil.

Overall data from four different data sources have been collected.

data extract from the national data bases ISAG of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency ( ISAG = Information System for Waste and Recycling) and ROKA (register of mapped areas)
filled-in questionnaires involving all municipalities and soil treatment plants and about 200 contractors and transport operators
questionnaire/telephone interviews with counties, municipalities, The Road Directorate, DSB (the Danish state-owned railway company), etc. concerning activities in the road area as well as interviews with the counties concerning soil for raw material pits and soil from clearing projects
existing reports relevant to displacement and handling of soil.

The Soil Contamination Act came into force on 1 January 2000. In this act new regulation of soil transport was introduced. In certain cases the municipality is to be notified of soil transport. In the questionnaires the municipalities are asked to provide information on notified soil transport.

On the basis of the surveys the following estimates were made for 2001:

Just under 12 million m³ excess soil (incl. recycling within the road management boards) was moved /transported
Removal of a total of 4.1 million m³ excess soil in Denmark has been notified.
About 45% of the total notified quantities of soil came from the unmapped areas, about 35 % from mapped areas, and about 20% from public road areas.
The total volume of notified contaminated soil (slightly contaminated and contaminated) amounts to about 2.7 million m³. It is estimated that a total of about 3.6 million m³ contaminated soil (including recycling within the road management boards) were handled.
In 2001 contractors and transport operators handled at least 5 million m³ clean soil. A total of about 9 million m³ clean soil (including recycling within the road management boards) were handled, of which 15% of the clean soil has been notified.
Expected removals within public road areas amounts to at least 1.7 million m³.
About 600,000 to 1.8 mil. tons contaminated soil was handed over for cleaning in 2001.

The surveys did not unambiguously state the quantities of clean soil carried to the raw material pits in 2001. Information from Danmarks Statistik seems to present a reasonable indication of the total quantity of filling soil, which for 2001 amounts to a total of about 2.3 mil. m³.

The surveys demonstrates that in general considerably larger amounts of soil are handled in Denmark – both contaminated and clean soil – than expected in connection with the preparations of the Soil Contamination Act.

It should be noted that at the time of the survey, the Soil Contamination Act was still being implemented, and that the practice of legislation followed in the administration in this period differed in counties and municipalities. Furthermore, the study was faced with a number of uncertainties, e.g. many different sources of data, lack of reporting (the survey has not made up the amount of soil that - against the rules - has not bee reported), uncertainty relating to the up-scaling of data on a national basis, complex of problems about the diffuse soil pollution etc. The statement of the quantities should be considered as a snapshot of the current situation, and it is estimated that the resulting quantities of soil are minimum quantities.

A total of about 50% of the contaminated soil is sent to cleaning. Furthermore, 23% are recycled, 16% disposed of in mono landfills, 10% to dumps and 2% are landfilled. The survey shows that almost all the cleaned soil from soil treatment plants (92%) is deposited as slightly contaminated soil after treatment.

The survey demonstrates that clean excess soil outside public road areas is recycled to a small extent. Thus, only about 20% of the clean excess soil are used for recycling. Of the reported contaminated soil, only about 10% is recycled. In return, considerable recycling of clean soil takes place within public roads, and in total the majority of the clean soil (5.2 million m³) is recycled. Furthermore, the survey indicates that large quantities of clean soil are finally deposited in agricultural areas all over the country. The survey fails to demonstrate the extent of this final deposal.

The surveys demonstrate that the most frequently used locality for disposal of excess soil from sites and roads cannot be expected to be the nearest location. The surveys clearly demonstrate increased transport, resulting in particular from the tax on waste. The soil quantities for cleaning represent by far the largest transport work. On the basis of the surveys it is not possible to assess the total transport work relating to excess soil, or to estimate the environmental consequences, if any, as a result of transport.

It appears that the data underlying the assessment of costs in connection with soil removal and handling were rather modest. It must be concluded that far the majority of the municipalities and counties do not have access to information on costs broken down on the various items of expenditure in connection with soil removal and handling. The survey of the costs of soil handling was based on actual costs relating to projects carried out in 2001. Owing to the diversified character of these projects, the differences in unit prices of the projects examined are relatively large.

The study attempts to assess the capacity required for the placing of clean and contaminated soil. It is estimated that the capacity requirement per year for final disposal is about 1 million tons of contaminated soil in special sites in Zealand. It is estimated that the capacity in the metropolitan area will be fully used in 2005, and HUR, the metropolitan development council, is in the process of designating suitable localities. However, the implementation of the planned projects in Zealand will as a total result in sufficient capacity to meet the requirements. In Jutland and Funen there are no overall capacity problems in relation to deposal of contaminated soil. However, local conditions may result in inappropriate transport distances.

The survey shows that most soil treatment plants have sufficient disposal possibilities to cover the need in the coming one to four years, and problems with disposal of the cleaned soil are not envisaged in a foreseeable future.

The survey shows that as a whole the remaining capacity for placing of clean soil is estimated to be 21 million m³. It is estimated that in two to eight years capacity problems will arise in Zealand.