Excess soil management: The ground is shifting

By Jeff Goldman

Over the past five years, attitudes, practices, and regulations regarding the management of excess soil from construction projects have shifted. This soil, which has historically been regarded as a costly and useless impediment to achieving the built form of the construction project, is slowly being appreciated for its potential benefits.

Moreover, accelerated consciousness about the environmental consequences of contaminated soils being improperly disposed of, coupled with heightened aspirations to decrease the carbon emissions associated with the transport of soils, has compelled industry stakeholders to find better solutions in this arena.

If all that were not enough, developers and project owners are finally awakening to the reality that they can significantly improve their bottom lines, along with regulatory compliance, by embracing new planning methods and technologies to achieve improved outcomes.

New provincial regulations have been implemented in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. Each has its differences, but there are commonalities that aspire to provide greater transparency and accountability for those involved in the excess soil chain of custody. This ensures that soil from a generating site is appropriately tested, characterized, and subsequently taken to a licensed receiving site that is approved for accepting the particular soil being transported.

These regulations also place emphasis on the maintenance and retention of accurate records that can verify what soil went to what place at what time. The result has been the decline of the tri-part paper ticket system that has been the industry standard for commercial transactions for generations. Unfortunately, this standard has been rife with abuse, inaccuracies, and headaches for account reconciliation.

Management of excess soil from construction projects has enormous economic and environmental impacts. Testing, excavation, transport, and deposit of soils from construction activities cost billions of dollars per year in Canada. Transportation of these soils from generating to receiving sites via tri-axle diesel dump trucks (the preferred mode of transport) generates hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. The consequences of improperly disposed soils pose considerable risks to human and environmental health.

Changes that have evolved in this industry are in their early stages. But, because this activity is so profound in scope and intrinsic to the construction paradigm, they have been notable. These changes can be largely grouped into categories of planning, execution, and disposition. If an organization does not currently take advantage of these kinds of improvements, it is missing opportunities for improved bottom lines and enhanced outcomes.

With respect to planning, tenders and performance contracts, the assistance of expert legal counsel is better defining the scope of performance, associated responsibilities, and liabilities in earthworks activities. This also leads to better-informed bids and decreased tensions about excess soil cost overruns and the assignment of blame.

It is becoming more common for those tasked with the management of excess soil to begin liaising with one another well before ground is broken to devise a comprehensive and efficient soil management plan.

In the execution sphere, recognition that specialized knowledge of soil management issues is essential to proper handling and risk reduction has occurred. In Ontario, the formation of QPCO (Qualified Persons Community of Ontario) was done to share enhanced knowledge among those specialists in this field (as opposed to generic engineers or other environmental consultants) and define best practices as an example of such recognition.

The creation and adoption of user-friendly digital technologies, such as SoilFLO®, have revolutionized soil management logistics. These applications provide such benefits as automated tracking and hauling records, superior management of inbound and outbound truck scheduling, budget tracking, record-keeping, and cost reconciliation.

“Creative and innovative technologies that adopt the mantra of reducing the volume of excess soils from generating sites by either in-situ remediation or recycling soils for a higher level of reuse are starting to abound.”

These are of tremendous value to project managers, site supervisors, site owners, and back-office accounting personnel. They also happen to assist stakeholders with regulatory compliance as a bonus. This is worlds apart from the manual management of soil disposition, accounting, and record-keeping methods of the past. There are cost savings from the efficiencies being realized by users.

Regarding execution, the increased awareness that the best excess soil management plan is one that greatly reduces or eliminates offsite disposal of soil is gaining traction. Accordingly, more attention is being paid to creative use of soils within the project area, as well as the beneficial reuse of excess soils in nearby or associated projects.

Creative and innovative technologies that adopt the mantra of reducing the volume of excess soils from generating sites by either in-situ remediation or recycling soils for a higher level of reuse are starting to abound. At this past September’s annual Excess Soil Symposium held in Toronto, the 350-plus soil experts were informed by presentations and displays from companies such as GRT Environmental Services (Canada), CDE Group, and Menard Canada that are providing such solutions.

On the disposition side, the soil provenance assured by good management, soil classification, and tracking technologies allows for increased acceptance by receiving facilities of soils from a variety of source sites. The more that such provenance is assured, the more soils can be received.

Market economics dictate that as more sites accept soils that they are assured are proper, associated tipping fees will decrease over time.The more excess soil is designated for beneficial reuse, the faster the benefits of such can be realized. This is circular economy thinking.

For receiving sites, the secret to opening their doors wide for construction soils is assurance that they get the soil they have been told they are getting and not an undesirable substitute.

Despite these advancements, the new era of excess soil management is still in its youth. Old ways and attitudes die hard in construction, where loyalty to traditional practices and stubborn resistance to the adoption of technology remains. In addition, disposal costs for soils are an enormous expense in construction endeavors.

Whenever such large amounts of money are at play, the temptation to find unsavory solutions to cut costs, along with the engagement of parties willing to participate in such activities, may be found. The excess soil world is no stranger to this phenomenon, although this is not reflective of most practices.

Looking forward, there is much to be done to improve how we regard and handle excess soil. To appreciate this activity’s scope and size, we need to be able to measure it. Despite its profound impact on the construction industry and environment, we have little data to assist in understanding this activity. Schools of civil engineering, urban planning, environmental studies, stakeholder industry associations, and government agencies would be well-advised to dedicate financial resources to study this area so further improvements may be forthcoming. Regulatory improvements without meaningful compliance enforcement are not effective. In Ontario, a fairly well-crafted provincial excess soil regulation is being ignored by too many, as the threat of incurring penalties has been in scarce evidence to date.

In Quebec, recent law enforcement and court interventions in some high-profile cases of what appear to be egregious examples of harmful dumping practices have recently been launched. Unfortunately, it appears that government initiative on this front only came after significant public outcry against the activities of the suspected perpetrators.

In the meantime, in the U.K., where they treat this matter seriously, a number of convicted offenders involved in the improper disposition of significantly contaminated soils have been sent to prison. We don’t want soil police, but the willingness of authorities to follow through with appropriate enforcement and prosecution when serious transgressions are in evidence is needed as a wake-up call to others who may be inclined to skirt compliance.

It has been heartening to witness greater awareness in the risk management and project financing sector of their exposure associated with improper soil management. Companies such as Berkley Insurance Canada have recognized that this is a specialized area that requires attention and understanding in the insurance sector.

I was delighted to attend a gathering earlier this year, organized by Stantec, on excess soil management that included insurance underwriters from a variety of large firms. The moment that project lenders and risk underwriters require those to whom they lend and insure to demonstrate compliance with good soil management practices as a condition of their participation is the moment the landscape in this arena will change dramatically for the better.

These banks and insurance companies, who seem to expend considerable energy expounding on their environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) commitments, may do well to consider the excess soil compliance component of the billions of dollars they administer for construction projects in respect to such commitments.

In recent years, the construction industry has embarked on various endeavors to measure and reduce its environmental impact and promote sustainability. Programs such as LEED or Net Zero are examples of these goals. Yet, to my knowledge, no programs to incentivize and recognize good excess soil management practices exist.

A company can garner LEED ‘points’ for installing bicycle racks at its new office tower or condominium. However, a soil management program that significantly reduces dump truck traffic or redirects thousands of cubic meters of soils to construct a public amenity gets nothing.

Probably the most formidable hurdle in improving excess soil management practices comes from the attitudes and perceptions of those in the industry. Regarding excess soil as a resource rather than a waste is suspected, by some, as part of a new-age ‘woke’ agenda. After all, it is just dirt. Right?

At the risk of pontificating, I say to my colleagues in the industry that everything we do should have at least a modicum of regard for its environmental consequence. If not, our eventual survival will be more imperiled than it is already. Remember, good excess soil management planning, plus the use of technologies, equals cost savings.

Jeff Goldman is with SoilFLO Inc. Email: jeff.goldman@ttig.ca  

This article was published in ES&E Magazine’s November/December 2024 issue.
Read the full issue below: