Landfill site closures over recent months and years are driving the need for alternative asbestos treatment in the UK as void space diminishes and disposal rates face increases.

Earlier this year, the media reported on the forthcoming closure of landfill sites in Suffolk and Oxfordshire as well as the Midlands. 

These announcements follow HM Revenue & Customs figures published last year which indicated that there were 710 landfills in operation in March 2014 (down from 722 a year earlier); and a report produced by BDS Marketing Research in 2013 which showed that 130 landfill sites had closed between 2008 and 2013. 

Tony Windsor, Managing Director, Windsor Integrated Services Group says: “The speed of these landfill closures has taken many by surprise but this is a trend that is going to continue and is likely to push up asbestos disposal prices and associated transport costs as businesses have to travel further to dispose of asbestos waste.  This reinforces the need for asbestos treatment facilities like ARI to provide sustainable alternatives to landfill and for these to be operational sooner rather than later”.

In June this year, ARI Global Technologies announced that the first ARI plant was a step closer to being built as the company received preliminary designs for a UK facility.