Stewardship, Biodiversity and Access
Viridor is developing biodiversity action plans, concentrating on priority species and habitats at three sites
Viridor now has a significant portfolio of closed landfill sites as well as substantial areas of restored land at operational landfill sites. Restoration and aftercare requirements vary from site to site depending on location and planning requirements. The task of the Company's Landfill Aftercare Management Team is to ensure that all site restoration is undertaken and maintained to provide the required environmental controls over landfill gas and leachate collection and disposal throughout the site aftercare period, whilst creating opportunities for appropriate after use and the overall amenity value of the land.
The Company's landfills present significant opportunities for localised biodiversity including: chalk downland in East Sussex, providing a habitat for butterflies; lowland heath in Dorset providing an important habitat for sand lizards, smooth snakes and Dartford Warblers; and wetland habitats in South London for rare migratory birds.
As outlined in the 2008 report, six biodiversity baseline studies where undertaken at closed landfill sites during 2008. Of these, three sites were identified as having high biodiversity value, one moderate to high, one moderate and one low. Building on this, Viridor has now started to develop biodiversity action plans, concentrating on priority species and priority habitats, for three of the higher tier sites in Dorset and Somerset. The reason for selecting these three sites is that they provide an opportunity to concentrate work in a reasonably small geographical area for the purposes of working towards the Wildlife Trust's Biodiversity Benchmark award. It is intended that these three sites will form a pilot project with the aim of rolling out the award nationally across selected Viridor sites that are considered to have potential for improving biodiversity.
The baseline studies undertaken during 2008 have indicated the presence of dormice at Odcombe in Somerset and all six UK species of reptile (sand lizard, common lizard, slow worm, smooth snake, grass snake and adder) at Tatchells in Dorset.
| Indicators (Stewardship Biodiversity and Access) |
|
|---|---|
2008/09 |
|
Number of trees |
40,178 |
Length of hedgerows planted (m) |
2,071 |
Number of local biodiversity action plans |
4 |
Number of integrated contracts that include waste minimisation |
9 |
Number of partnerships with local authorities, businesses and voluntary sectors on resource management |
17 |
Number of partnership projects as a proportion of total sites |
58% |
An additional benefit of this work is that it provides an opportunity to work with local stakeholders and partner organisations such as the RSPB and local wildlife interest groups. There may also be opportunities to link the site biodiversity action plans to local and regional biodiversity action plans.
Throughout 2008 and early 2009 the Company's Landfill Aftercare Management Team also undertook a significant amount of work to improve woodland at a number of its closed landfill sites through active management and maintaining footpaths for public access wherever possible.
Woodland is an increasingly valuable resource in terms of habitat value, conservation and as a source of renewable materials. Viridor planted over 40,000 trees and 2,000 metres of hedgerows during 2008/09.
