Sustainable Remediation

If you have been working in the environmental consulting industry for the last five years, you have witnessed the growth of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) industry. Many corporations are working to incorporate ESG protocols into their business practices to demonstrate the importance of ESG to their investors, clients, suppliers, and vendors.

Assisting a client in establishing an ESG program entails an evaluation of the following metrics:

• Greenhouse gas emissions,
• Air and water pollution,
• Recycling and waste management,
• Biodiversity, and
• Deforestation.

Typically, this evaluation focuses on production and supply chain operations. However, as site investigation and remediation practitioners, you can also contribute to your client’s environmental and social metrics of their ESG rating by applying green concepts to site investigation and remediation obligations. This can be accomplished by applying sustainability metrics to remedy alternative analysis and implementing best management practices. In ISO 18504:2017 (Soil quality – Sustainable remediation), a sustainability indicator is defined as a single characteristic that represents a sustainability effect, whether benefit or negative impact, which may be compared across alternative remediation strategies, comprising one or more remediation techniques and/or institutional controls, to evaluate their relative performance.

Sustainable remedial approaches can deliver numerous benefits, including improvements to the local environment, regional economy and surrounding community; increased remediation efficiency, decreased project costs; use of more innovative technologies; and compliance with sustainability-related regulations and guidelines. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 Consideration of Greener Cleanup Activities in the Superfund Cleanup Process provides guidance for incorporating sustainability throughout the CERCLA process – not just at the remedy implementation phase. This includes conducting a sustainability analysis of remedial alternatives as part of the short-term effectiveness evaluation (one of the primary balancing criteria), considering the protection of the remediation workers and community during remedial actions, environmental impacts associated with remedy implementation, and time until remedial objectives are achieved. The introduction of sustainable remediation concepts expands upon current environmental practices to employ remedial strategies that use natural resources and energy efficiently, reduce negative impacts on the environment, minimize or eliminate sources of contamination, protect and benefit the community at large, reduce air emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) production, and reduce waste to the greatest extent possible, thereby minimizing the environmental “footprint” and maximizing the overall benefit of remedial actions.

Evaluation of the effect of required activities on the environmental portion of the client’s ESG can include investigation, laboratory, remedial, reporting and data evaluation activities. Some of the areas that should be considered to achieve a more mindful approach are:

• Modify sample collection and analysis techniques (e.g., use of remote sensing, auto data loggers, passive sampling and field test kits to reduce travel requirements, sampling time and generation of investigation-derived waste),
• Minimize the need for disposal or single-use items, and reduce or eliminate investigation-derived waste,
• Optimize transport of field personnel and contractors travelling to the job site to reduce the number or size of the vehicles travelling to the job site or limit mobilizations,
• Determine the most efficient way for the samples to be transported to the laboratory, i.e., courier, overnight shipping, hand delivery, etc.,
• Recycle field supplies and beneficially reuse of excavated soil and construction debris,
• Design data collection program to reduce field time and avoid additional mobilizations and
• Evaluate remedy requirements aligned with ESG considerations (e.g., use of nature-based or in-situ treatment versus off-site disposal, selection of material supplier and disposal locations to minimize transportation, use of solar-powered pumps or treatment systems).

For a comprehensive list of BMPs, refer to ASTM’s Standard Guide for Greener Cleanups. In summary, considering sustainable remediation metrics and BMPs will help reduce a remediation program's cumulative environmental footprint and result in positive ESG outcomes.

Resources

GR BMP Factsheet Overview.

GR BMP Factsheet Overview PDF

USEPA 2016. Consideration of Greener Cleanup Activities in the Superfund Process. Office of Land and Emergency Management. August 2.

ASTM 2017. Standard Guide for Greener Cleanups. E2983-16e1. Last updated January 6.