RemedX addresses environmental liabilities in Madeira, Portugal

Project summary

RSK company RemedX managed a project addressing environmental liabilities on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The remit involved overseeing the project from site investigation and design to implementing the necessary work and completing associated regulatory sign-off. Owing to the team’s decisive and coordinated management, the project concluded on time and within budget.

The background

RemedX was commissioned by a private client to oversee a large–scale, environment-focused project on Madeira, an island about 1000 km from mainland Portugal. The team addressed environmental liabilities associated with the historical use of land as an oil distribution terminal before it could be redeveloped. Work comprised extensively excavating hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, managing on-site materials and remediating the groundwater. As the project manager, RemedX coordinated with other teams on every aspect of the project, including site investigation, design and implementation of various on-site work.

The challenges

The isolated location (1000 km from the mainland and 550 km from Morocco) of the project provided RemedX with many challenges to overcome. Primarily, the volume of waste produced by the project had to be minimised. This included both project-related waste and what was generated by the on-site teams. In addition, port authority environmental requirements needed to be navigated. A dedicated RemedX team was established to mitigate the challenges.

The solutions

We instigated on-site segregation and screening during excavation work that ensured only fine, oil-contaminated materials were transported off-site for treatment. This resulted in a 35% reduction in the planned disposal volumes. Teams worked seamlessly with local subcontractors responsible for supplying the excavation equipment in the management and disposal of the materials.

Overcoming the port authority and stringent environmental protections was also overseen by the dedicated RemedX team. All off-site waste was loaded into bulk bags before transportation. A waste tracking system streamlined the process and provided traceability of all materials moved for off–site disposal. Upon project completion, all materials were accounted for and documented.

The impacts

Teams used a PetroFLAG field test kit and an InfraCal analyser to determine the total petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil, which optimised the decision-making process and fast-tracked the excavation, treatment and backfilling: critical aspects of the excavation. This on-site analysis also reduced the number of samples shipped for laboratory analysis, thereby lowering the overall project costs. The project was completed in nine months. The total volume excavated was 50,000 m³. In summary, 10,000 m³ of contaminated material was screened, 7800 m³ was reused and 2200 m³ was disposed of off–site.