Guidelines to prevent soil contamination in the ELV sector (End-of-Life Vehicles)

Abstract

When a vehicle reaches the end of its useful life it is considered hazardous waste and therefore must be managed in an Authorized Treatment Facility (ATF). These vehicles include large quantities of hazardous substances which could affect the quality of the subsoil when they are not treated appropriately. Furthermore, soil is considered as one of the most sensitive and vulnerable receptor of contamination. For this reason this project is based on the prevention of soil contamination in the particular case of End-of Life Vehicles (ELV) management. The main objective of this paper is to detect the most critical operations during ELV treatment and propose preventive measures to avoid subsoil contamination. In order to achieve this, a checklist has been developed to evaluate this type of facilities and fieldwork has been done in collaboration with the department of Soil Contamination Management in the Waste Agency of Catalonia (ARC). Moreover, this research has created and developed a risk assessment, which combines together damage and vulnerability. The results obtained show critical operations for subsoil quality: decontamination, waste storage and compaction zones. Comparing the results obtained with the experimental work done, the results give a reliable methodology to evaluate the environmental risk of a facility in terms of subsoil hazard. The objective of this part in the near future is to implement this tool in the administration assess of Potentially Soil Polluting Activities (APC). Finally, a series of improvements in the different phases of design, operation and dismantling in ATF are proposed. This will enable to make this activity more sustainable and respectful with the environment