Over the weekend local news reports have shown a significant oil leak entering the Knostrop canal system in and around Leeds.  As of yet the Environment Agency is unsure where the oil has come from and has implemented an emergency clean up operation.

This story highlights how companies can be unaware of problems their site could be causing.  Andel's PPL division is well-placed to offer your company that peace of mind to ensure you are not the cause of pollution and possible prosecution.

With products like ReBund we can ensure that in the event of a problem the damage is limited to a local area not as in this case from Leeds to the North Sea.  ReBund is a modular bunding system designed from recycled plastics.  Aside from preventing hazardous liquids leaving your premises ReBund is an "ecological" solution diverting many tonnes of plastic from landfill, helping you reduce carbon emissions and is less complex to install than similar concrete solutions.  With installations throughout the UK it is a proven system that can withstand more extreme temperatures than concrete and being modular can be adapted to almost any application you can think of.

Download the datasheet  Andel-PPL ReBund - recycled plastics, modular bunding system (866.34 kB)

Update:

21-Aug-2012

Environment Agency officers today announced they may have found the source of the major oil spill which covered 13 km of the River Aire from bank to bank at the weekend, between Leeds and Castleford.

Mark West of the Environment Agency said: “It’s too soon to be absolutely certain, but we have been working closely with the Police, and have found a very strong lead. We’re continuing to investigate and the company involved is co-operating fully. We believe around 5,000 gallons of oil has leaked into the Aire from their oil tank.”

Businesses in the South Leeds area were yesterday asked by the Environment Agency to check their oil and fuel tanks in case a broken pipe or a leak had caused the problem. The serious pollution incident also meant that the company involved had lost thousands of pounds worth of oil.

Mark West went on to say: “What this underlines is the responsibility businesses have to safeguard their fuel tanks under the oils storage regulations.”

It is a legal requirement to provide adequate storage for oil. This includes the need to provide protective bunds or barriers that can collect spills and leaks. The Environment Agency provides guidance on their website on storing oil safely and complying with the legislation.

Environment Agency staff have been working with the Canal and Rivers Trust and contractors to soak up as much of the oil as possible, using absorbent booms and pads.

However the sheer quantity of oil in the fast-moving waters of the river and canal system means that a large part of it will be flushed downstream into the Humber. By this time it will be very dispersed and the risk to the environment will be greatly reduced.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/142260.aspx

In May of this year Andel Ltd exhibited at The Facilities Show at The NEC in Birmingham.  A successful show introduced our company and services to several new friends and we were able to catch up with some old ones too (you know who you are!).  Feeling generous we decided to have a no-obligation prize draw offering an Amazon Kindle to the lucky business card which we would draw after the show.

 Better late than never we have conducted a blind draw and one card was extracted from around 100 in the bag. What a controversial card it was too!  The card featured 2 names, one on each side.  The exhibition had run for three days and as we couldn't determine who had actually placed the card in the box we decided to upgrade our prize to TWO kindles!!

Congratulations to Mr. Cole and Mr. Wood of Royal Air Force Brize Norton who were pleased to be presented in person by Mark Harris their Kindles on August 8th.  We hope you enjoy your prizes.

Marsden-based Andel is among the finalists in the Sustainabilitylive! Innovation Award for Environmental Technology. The prestigious 2012 competition pitts our 35-strong firm against industry giants such as:

• Gloucestershire County Council and Atkins
• Nampak Plastics Europe Limited
• and Veolia Water Central

It's an honour to be recognised this far!  (fingers crossed for what happens next!)

Andel has been recognised for the recently-patented ReBund, which has already achieved orders worth tens of thousands of pounds from power giant Scottish & Southern Energy to protect the environment from oil leaks from transformers and from Meadow Foods to shield a site of special scientific interest from potential milk spills.

Andel Ltd managing director Ian Pogson said: “We’re delighted the cutting-edge design and manufacture of our heavy-duty recycled plastic ReBund has been spotted by the judges amongst such a high-ranking group of competitors.