Green Sustainable Remediation Management System For Contaminated Sites Research And Case Studies

With the rapid development of the market economy in China,coupled with the implemented preferential policies such as “retreating two to three”,a large number of contaminated sites have been left behind.This phenomenon poses serious impacts to the environment,society and economy.Green and sustainable remediation(GSR)has been implemented in Europe and the USA for decades.Although China has done a lot of work and made great progress in recent years,it still lacks a GSR management system that suits our national conditions and the needs of the new era.Firstly,this paper compares the development and impact of GSR management systems and compares the development gaps at the current stage in China.The results show that the current policy system contains provisions related to the GSR concept and the multi-sectoral cooperation promoting is an important basis for driving GSR development in the UK and US.Compared to the UK and the US,current policy system in the China provide slightly less room for implemented GSR.The GSR management system needs to be improved and the influence on remediation practices of contaminated sites needs to be strengthened.Secondly,a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the awareness of Chinese regulators of GSR-related provisions in China’s policy system and its implementation challenges.The results show that87.6% regulators are aware of and familiar with GSR,and most(70.4%)believe that it is necessary to implement GSR in China.The existing GSRrelated provisions are mainly focused on the environmental dimension and do not adequately balance the three pillars of GSR(environmental,social and economic).The GSR-related provisions focus on factors such as "control and prevention of secondary pollution"(92.8%),“consideration of impacts on the public and nearby residents”(87.2%)and “effective controlled remediation cycles and costs”(74.4%).while factors such as“reducing greenhouse gas emissions”,“purchasing local labour” and“creating local jobs” were less frequently reflected.are less represented and should be strengthened.In addition,the lack of relevant standards and regulatory requirements is the biggest challenge to the implementation of GSR in China.Thirdly,this paper analyses the remediation techniques assessed,the assessment indicators and their quantitative results based on domestic and international GSR assessment cases from peer review papers.The results show that the remediation technologies assessed in the assessing cases are mainly focused on ex situ remediation technologies,while in situ remediation technologies account for a relatively low percentage.The assessment methods used in the assessing cases mainly included multicriteria decision assessment methods and life cycle assessment methods.The adopted assessment indicators are mainly focused on environmental dimensions,followed by social dimensions.Of these,“raw materials”,“energy”,“air” and “greenhouse gases” are key indicators for determining the negative environmental impact of remediation technologies.“worker safety”,“community satisfaction” and “site use” are the key indicators for determining the negative environmental impacts of remediation technologies.All remediation technologies have some negative impact,with ex situ remediation technologies having the highest negative impact,followed by in situ remediation technologies,and passive remediation technologies having the lowest negative impact.Fourthly,this paper analyses the remediation techniques used,best management practices(BMPs)and their GSR remediation benefits based on public applications of GSR in the US.The results show that the government is the primary driver for GSR implementation and has contributed to the widespread use of in situ remediation techniques.The implemented BMPs is mostly focused on the remediation construction phase.The BMPs related to “optimization”,“renewable energy”,“recycling and reusing” is high adoption,while other BMPs related to“consider or change land planning”,“community/local environmentalist involvement”,“environmentally friendly materials purchasing” and “local labour/services purchasing” have relatively low adoption.Some BMPs that directly relates to environment also achieve social and economic benefits due to the correlations among the three pillars(environmental,economic,and social).In addition,this paper also analyses possible relationships between BMPs and remediation benefits,with three BMPs about“optimizing equipment or remediation details”,“using renewable energy”and “reusing solid waste” being identified.Three remediation benefits about “reducing total energy consumption”,“reducing costs” and“reducing greenhouse gas emissions” being identified.These BMPs and benefits should have the highest priority in practice.Finally,based on the above research results,a three-dimensional GSR management system,consisting of management stages,management aspects and management contents,is constructed for carbon neutrality and in line with China’s national conditions.The management content,as the focus of this management system,consists of an assessment indicator system,remediation benefit enhancement strategy,public participation mechanism and summary reporting system.The management system is expected to provide some reference for the contaminated sites GSR management in China.