Technical Director,  Andy O’Dea and Operations Director,  Jon Goddard of Cognition Land and Water recently gave their thoughts on the issues and solutions around the Sustainable Management of Surplus Soils to Network Rail and its supply chain.  Presenting to a group of over 50 key influencers in the rail industry and then having the recording distributed to a wider network of almost 200 was a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of this key sustainability issue facing the rail and wider infrastructure and land development sectors. 

Through its Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2020-2050, Network Rail has set itself and its supply chain the ambitious task of diverting 100% of waste generated from landfill by 2029.  In 2019 they disposed of some 300,000t of soil so the size of the task is not to be underestimated.  However, with an enlightened approach to reducing the generation of surplus soil in the first place, and then reusing or recycling at every opportunity, Cognition were able to demonstrate that this target is fully achievable.  By applying currently available regulatory tools, materials management practices and innovative technologies, Cognition is achieving zero waste to landfill on many of our sites today! 

A recording of the presentation can be found here.

If you or your company would like to discuss the difficulties you face in relation to surplus soils on your construction sites, please contact either Andy (andy.odea@cognitionltd.com, 07833 873 065) or Jon (jon.goddard@cognitionltd.com, 07852 447 546) who will be pleased to help.

We would like to thank Dan Ditri and Maria Jarosz at Network Rail for facilitating the event.