Waste management and sustainable use of resources have become significant global issues.
Moving away from waste management to resource management can conserve natural resources and reduce carbon emissions, mitigating climate change and creating employment opportunities.
Sustainable resource and waste management starts with good product design and producer responsibility. For waste that cannot be avoided, reuse, recycling, composting and energy recovery - combined with an integrated approach to remanufacturing of discarded goods and products - will lead to increased resource efficiency and a resource management economy.
The whole life cycle
Arup offers a wide range of services for all aspects of resource and waste management. The services cover the whole life cycle of a project from inception to completion. At every stage, Arup strives for creative and sustainable results that are of real value to clients.
The focus of the business is to provide services that address the needs and business drivers of clients. The principal resource and waste management services offered include policy advice and research, sustainable resource and waste management strategies, communication and behavioural programmes, supply chain management and green procurement, sustainable product design and material selection, waste development planning and permitting, major waste infrastructure projects, civil engineering design for waste infrastructure, waste to energy solutions, and landfill engineering.
Arup's resource and waste management project experience has been developed in three areas:
- Strategic advice, scheme development and business case modelling
- Planning, environmental impact assessment and environmental permitting
- Design and implementation
Strategic advice, scheme development and business case modelling range from developing a waste strategy for local authorities to detailed advice on funding and procurement methods.
Through its understanding of planning, transportation and regeneration initiatives across the globe, Arup provides a network and knowledge base that significantly benefits clients and their objectives.
Arup worked on a project with the Greater London Authority for the design of waste infrastructure, demonstrating that waste treatment technologies can provide combined heat and power to residential, commercial and industrial developments and significantly minimise aesthetic, environmental and associated health impact.
Norcal Waste Facility Design
Arup has provided strategic advice on advanced waste treatment technologies, predicted building sizes, energy generation and by-product usage for the 2020 Norcal Waste Systems Inc waste facility site in San Francisco. Recommendations were aligned with major project drivers, such as water efficiency, minimal impact to the environment and the neighbouring community and resource value of recyclables and process by-products.
Commissioned by the Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong Government in early 2005, Arup undertook a 22-month feasibility study for the extension of the North East New Territories (NENT) Landfill. This landfill extension, with a target capacity of 21 Million cubic metres, constitutes a vital element of Hong Kong Government's plan for exploring new landfill capacity that will be critically needed within the next decade. Arup's scope included formulation and evaluation of layout options for the landfill extension, preliminary design for the landfill facilities, environmental, drainage and other impact assessments.