Remediation of the Landfill underway
Great progress is being made on the remediation of the landfill, the largest area of the site requiring remediation.
The landfill comprises an area of 24,000 sq. metres and is a fundamental element of Roche’s pledge to restore the site to a brownfield status, capable of attracting new investment.
The excavation of waste from the landfill is being undertaken within large airtight enclosures to guarantee containment of dust, odour and vapour emissions.
As shown in the image above, two large enclosures, one of which is 100m long x 28m wide x 13m high and the other 100m long, 44m wide and 13m high, are being used for the landfill excavation works.
There are a total of 9 individual cells in the landfill and the remediation will involve the removal of all the waste that was placed in these cells.
The larger enclosure is being used to excavate waste from cells 3,1,8 (H2N),4,2 and 9 (H2S) in that order. Cell 3 is now fully remediated and the enclosure has been moved to cell 1. The larger enclosure is moved via a shifting system and does not need to be dismantled when moving from cell to cell.
The smaller enclosure is being used for cells 5,6 and 7. Excavation is complete in cell 5 and backfill with clean soil is now underway. Once this cell has been certified by the environmental team as fully remediated, the enclosure will be dismantled and re-constructed at cell 6.
The scale of the larger enclosure can be gleaned from the above photo taken during a recent visit to the site by the Ambassadors of Switzerland and Austria to Ireland. This photo was taken post remediation, when cell 3 was being backfilled with clean soil. Photo by Eamon Ward Photography.
A Team Effort
Preparing the landfill for the excavation of waste involved multiple teams, led by Roche Project and the main contractor, Indaver.
We thank each member of every team for their hard work which enabled Roche to reach its milestone of being ready to start excavating waste in the landfill at the beginning of 2025.
The Roche Projects team
The Indaver (main contractor) team
The Verde (environmental management) and Veolia (facilities' management) teams - Veoila team in hi-vis jackets
The photos below are representative of the many sub-contractors involved in delivering varying aspects of the site remediation project - civil works, enclosure construction, electrical services, ground investigation, logistics, landscaping...
Team members present on the day included in photos. Some team members not included in the photos.
Photos by Eamon Ward.
Background to the Landfill
The site infrastructure originally included an on-site landfill which was initially licensed by the local authority and subsequently by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The requirement for a landfill was linked to the fact that waste emanating from Roche’s on-site manufacturing activities could not be sent to municipal landfills, hence it was placed in the landfill.
In 2006, a higher focus on recycling resulted in the landfill being capped and closed. Non-recyclable waste was sent to off-site waste management facilities designed specifically for handling waste generated from the site
When Roche announced its the decision to cease operations in Clarecastle and to fully remediate the site to enable it to have a sustainable future, the removal and remediation of waste deposited in the on-site landfill was an intrinsic part of this decision.
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