CL:AIRE is excited to formally announce the launch of its new research project, Earthbanks, spearheaded by eight of the top academics in soil in the UK.
The Earthbanks project aims to develop a framework and guidelines for the establishment of soil depots across England and Wales. Soil depots, as outlined in the Defra Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, will be sites where valued material is ‘banked’, stored, and protected to enable onward use at third party sites.
The technical goals of the Earthbanks project are to demonstrate how a network of soil depots across the country can be created that can:
- Accept soil from construction and development projects,
- Accurately track its movement and preserve its data and lines of evidence,
- Offer long-term storage whilst minimising soil damage,
- Inspect, process (if required) and manufacture soil to make it reusable, and
- Redistribute it to other construction sites in need of soil using the DoW CoP.
To move the concept of Earthbanks towards reality, proof of concept demonstration projects are required. Interested parties and organisations may reach out to CL:AIRE for further information.
The Earthbanks project seeks to engage with relevant regulatory authorities and policymakers to advocate for the development of policies that incentivise soil reuse and discourage soil disposal. This will be achieved by developing clear guidelines and standards regarding soil depot management including testing, quality assessment, and remediation techniques which can be relied on to support such policies.
CL:AIRE thanks the academics involved for their support, ongoing guidance and encouragement. The group will meet quarterly to discuss updates to the project and next steps. Outputs from the group will be available on the CL:AIRE website, and a new quarterly newsletter will be established to update interested and involved parties on project developments.
For more information, or to sign up to the email list and newsletter to stay informed, please visit: Earthbanks.