PFAS Risk Screening Project Phase 4, Work Package 5 - Landfill Emissions Assessment

Tender description

The objective of this work programme is to improve our overall understanding of the scale and extent of PFAS, POPs and other hazardous substances from landfill emissions (leachate and gases) and their potential impact pathways on the terrestrial/fresh and water/marine environments. The programme will therefore build an overall picture of landfill leachate and gaseous substances that are known to be, or that we suspect to be, harmful to the environment and explore their potential exposure pathways. This may be used to inform policy and regulation. Lot 1: This contract is for the project entitled Landfill Emissions Assessment. This work programme is sub-divided into four ‘Lots’ which sit under the overarching PFAS Risk Screening Project which is now entering Phase 4 (2022 – 2025). The wider PFAS Risk Screening Project, aims to assess and tackle the risks arising from a group of “forever chemicals” which are contaminating soil, groundwater, surface waters and gases that may pose a risk to human health. These four ‘lots’ build on previous work undertaken jointly by the EA and Defra on PFAS and a wider range of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These chemicals are causing a global pollution problem. And the nature and scale of the problem in the UK is only now being fully realised. The overarching objectives of the current studies (outlined below as four separate work packages) is to build on the outputs from preceding studies, to act on recommendations and to improve our understanding and knowledge. This will be achieved by developing sampling programmes to collect leachate, gas condensate, biosolids (sludges), groundwater, surface water and landfill gas from a variety of landfills and Sewage Treatment Works (STW) and/or Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTWs) and analyse for a number of POPS, PFAS and other hazardous substances. The four lots comprise of: • Lot 1 - Targeted sampling and assessment of non-hazardous raw and treated leachates, gas condensates and bio-solids (sludges) from a variety of on-site leachate treatment plants to evaluate percentage removal of PFAS and POP substances. • Lot 2 - Assessment of PFAS and POPs in non-hazardous landfill leachate compared to other sources within domestic and industrial wastewaters. • Lot 3 - Assessment of PFAS and POPs emissions/releases from non-hazardous landfill leachates to surface and groundwaters from unlined and lined non-hazardous landfills. • Lot 4 - Study of a PFAS suite and other trace gas emissions from non-hazardous landfills.