SmithKline Beecham Welcomed as a New Client
Last year we were appointed to provide a Hazardous Waste Technical Manual to guide the worldwide operations of SmithKline Beecham (SB), a leading pharmaceutical and healthcare
company. The project is now complete and the Manual aims to promote better understanding amongst SB's site-based staff and explains the
reasoning behind the demanding standards set by SB, both for their on-site operations, and for
the waste management contractors and the facilities they use.
Robert Walker, project manager for RLCL, explains:-
"SB has operational facilities in over 40 countries so we had to provide truly international guidance. It had to be
applicable to developed countries where environmental standards are high and the waste management infrastructure is well developed, but also to those in developing countries where very little of this is in place. This project marks an important step for us because in the past we've concentrated mainly on advising the waste management industry rather than waste producers. I'm sure there must be lots of responsible companies out there who would benefit from similar guidance."
(above) Selena Smith and Rob
Walker display the Hazardous Waste Technical Manual
Project manager for SB's Corporate Environment & Safety Department, Brett Fulford, added:-
"We asked Robert Long to draw together the best practices from around the world, so that our various operations can learn from each other and from industry as a whole. This Manual is one of a series that support the policies and standards we adopted in 1995. It provides technical requirements for everything from containers to disposal facilities and explains why we need to meet the SB
standards. It doesn't set further requirements as such, but it does seek to explain why we don't favour some technologies and
dissuades our facilities from employing them."
The Manual has been developed over a nine-month period and has been circulated to all SB's operational facilities throughout the world. The loose-leaf hard copy and SB Intranet formats allow the Manual to incorporate regular updates as technologies move on and as further case studies are gathered from around the globe.
Abingdon Marina
A new client, Farntech Limited, commissioned Robert Long Consultancy Limited to implement a soil sampling strategy for a site to be remediated for a housing
development. The site, Abingdon Marina, was a landfill site and the proposal involved excavating the waste for export to a nearby landfill site and then to backfill with soil.
 Alison
Crooks soil sampling during remediation works at the Abingdon Marina
site.
We make regular visits to the site to sample the waste, soil to be backfilled and the made ground. The samples were tested for the standard ICRCL suite for proposed housing development. All results were analysed and submitted to the Environmental Health Department Officer with whom we liaised throughout the sampling period.
"This is a perfect example of re-development of 'brownfield' land" comments Alison Crooks, Environmental Technician for the project. "We were delighted to be a part of this imaginative project. This is going to be a wonderful place to live."
Packaging Waste Regulations
A CRY FOR HELP
We have recently completed a consultancy project advising a well-known builders merchant on compliance with the Packaging Waste Regulations.
Our client was in the difficult position of being unaware of their obligations until recently and they had therefore failed to register with the Environment Agency. We helped to interpret how the various definitions and obligations applied to our client's particular circumstances. These interpretations were crucial to their
collection of data on the amount of packaging handled by the company.
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