A team of water experts has walked away with a prestigious national Utility Industry award for treating millions of litres of leachate (rainwater that collects at the bottom of landfill), making it safe to be returned to the environment.

The team from Veolia Water beat off stiff competition to win the Environment Award at the Utility Industry Achievement Awards in London on 14 December for its innovative leachate treatment plant at the Candles landfill site in Shropshire, operated by Veolia Environmental Services.

Veolia Water Chief Executive Frederic Devos said:

"This award is deserved recognition for the teams at Veolia Water and Veolia Environmental Services who have worked together to deliver a unique environmental solution to a problem which could pose a real threat to the environment if left untreated. After the success we have seen at Candles, we are confident we will be able to replicate this process elsewhere."

Leachate is the rainwater that collects at the bottom of landfill sites. As the water percolates through layers of waste, it becomes contaminated, making it unsuitable to be released into the environment.

The process pioneered at Candles presents several environmental benefits. For instance, not only does it treat the contaminated water to a high enough standard to be released back to the sewerage system, but also utilises exhaust gases from the electrical generation on site as its fuel source and produces ammonia solution as a sustainable and commercial product.

Up to 150 cubic metres of water a day is treated at the plant in a three-stage process:

1. Removal of contaminants from the leachate
2. Separation of ammonia
3. Concentration of ammonia to make a sustainable product

The use of waste heat from the biogas-fuelled generation engines has also dramatically reduced the plant's carbon footprint.

Notes to Editors:

1. For further information please contact Zoe Johnston: Tel. 01707 277110 or email news@veoliawater.co.uk
2. Photographs of the site are available on request. Please use contact details as above.
3. The large Candles landfill site in Shropshire has been operated by Veolia Environmental Services since 1997. The site covers an area of 19 hectares and can hold up to 4 million tonnes of waste material.