Contaminated buddleia..?

[benedmonds]

I have a site of about 3,500m2 of contaminated buddleia to clear.. Full of all sorts of crap...

You couldn't risk trying to flail it. 

In the past on these types of jobs I would just throw men at it and work through hand cutting. 

Any smart ideas about how to make it a easier job. 

 

Has anyone used air curtain incinerators on site and what are the rules..

It is in an urban area so a big fire is also out.. but I believe - Burning of wood or other vegetation on a site being demolished is acceptable if you get an exemption certificate issued by the Environment Agency.

 

and before you comment we can't torch, napalm, bomb etc etc....

 

 

Edited March 6, 2019 by benedmonds

[nepia]

From a point of view of zero expertise... wouldn't that level of contamination justify scraping the entire surface with a big bucket into skips and burying the lot?

[John Shutler]

Excavator mounted flail with a careful operator would probably see most of it done then finish off the worst bits with a hand cutter and mulch the cuttings down with the flail 

[Stephen Blair]

2 hours ago, nepia said:

From a point of view of zero expertise... wouldn't that level of contamination justify scraping the entire surface with a big bucket into skips and burying the lot?

That’s was my thinking, did it with a travellers site after the flail guy had enough ofntyres and mattress springs jamming the flail!  The nappy mountain still gives me the shivers when I think about it.

[Steve Bullman]

Kingwell would probably be able to advise you on the legal side of burning Air curtain incinerator hire

[Conor Wright]

That’s was my thinking, did it with a travellers site after the flail guy had enough ofntyres and mattress springs jamming the flail!  The nappy mountain still gives me the shivers when I think about it.

Nappy mountain... that reminded me of a job I landed one summer as a teenager, derelict terraced town house with a sizable rear garden which was literally 8 ft high with briars and nettles.
Turns out the neighbours had been filling blue bags and firing them over the wall. No nappies, just little blue bags full of excrement.
First one came as a complete surprise and splattered all around it when I caught it with the blade on the brushcutter.
Junkie sorts rather than caravan dwellers.
I will never forget that smell on a hot summer's day.
If I ever happen across a blue bag now I take no chances!
I think people that dump rubbish like that should be rehomed on landfill sites. Permanently.

[JonnyRFT]

I did a similar job last week. I scraped out the whole site, hired a skip then flailed at the end. Worked out well.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

EA D7 exemption allows for burning of green waste (<10t) generated and burnt at the same site but there are mandatory conditions like not creating a nuisance.

 

Last time I did it neighbours complained but that was just the latest in a series of complaints about unpopular (but consented) TPO felling. 

 

After the first burn up I got a call from Env Health at LA, told them I had D7 and said they were welcome to attend next time to monitor wind direction / smoke drift etc - they didn’t come. 

 

Also worth telling local fire station it is a planned / controlled / monitored burn to avoid genuine (or vexatious) call outs which could be an unwelcome distraction and could attract a call out penalty (if you tell them in advance it can avoid embarrassment or wasted time)

 

Dot Gov Link here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waste-exemption-d7-burning-waste-in-the-open

[benedmonds]

9 hours ago, JonnyRFT said:

I did a similar job last week. I scraped out the whole site, hired a skip then flailed at the end. Worked out well.

1 skip isn't going to make an impact.. there is 100's of tons of fly tipped waste..

 

Quote

EA D7 exemption allows for burning of green waste (<10t) generated and burnt at the same site but there are mandatory conditions like not creating a nuisance

The <10t would be an issue... 

[JonnyRFT]

24 minutes ago, benedmonds said:

1 skip isn't going to make an impact.. there is 100's of tons of fly tipped waste..

Ahh ok. Might be worth hiring a local grab lorry and just keeping piling up the waste for them to collect until it’s finished. Have a good rough terrain grab tele/tractor on site to move everything to a specific location where the lorry can pick up from.