Companies accredited under this Category are capable of responding to recover plastic or marine debris releases / spillages which have been washed by tide or wind onto shorelines, to sheltered locations accessible by road in estuaries, collected in rivers or inland watercourses. (This accreditation does not include recovery from vessels).
These companies are able to perform a suitable pre-site assessment of the area of impact by undertaking a survey to target/protect key areas (e.g., SCAT and Spill Triage), and record and evaluate the success of the recovery. These companies will liaise with local authorities, landowners, HM Coast Guard, local volunteer groups all of whom may seek to be involved in these events.
They must have an awareness of the potential impact on wildlife and ecological receptors from the response operations and must liaise with the appropriate authorities and conservation groups to ensure clean up works can proceed.
The companies will have staff trained to work safely near tidal water, on beaches, by rivers and estuaries. They will have suitable equipment, such as portable vacuum equipment, that is expected to be used in a manner that protects the harm to the marine environment and minimises the sand/ shingle / mud being removed from site. They will be expected to be able to recover a minimum of 200 kg of plastic or marine debris over a distance of several kilometres and have the ability to segregate this waste using appropriate equipment (e.g. trommels, sieves) and organise its appropriate disposal and recycling following the waste hierarchy.
These companies will have the capability to categorise the plastic or marine debris as hazardous or non-hazardous, have the equipment to recover it from sand, shingle, rocks or mud, and segregate it from any natural materials (e.g. sand, seaweed etc) to maximise the recovery of plastic / marine debris minimising volumes of material for disposal or recycling.
These companies are to ensure suitable end-points are achieved following current guidance and to comply with the requirements of the relevant stakeholders in line with the accreditation’s / trade association’s Code of Conduct.
Capabilities at each response location are verified by our ISAS Assessor, looking at staff training, experience and equipment available. Core capabilities must be delivered by in-house resource, where support services such as tankering and high lift vacuum uplift are required the company will need to demonstrate it either has in-house capability or arrangements in place for the sourcing of these services.
CAPABILITIES
- Ability to deploy equipment at short notice (within 24hrs) through a sub-contractor or supplier if required
- Ability to establish a no-go-zone to prevent public access to clean-up site
- Capable of accessing high/low water data at site location
- Access to staff trained in water safety (staff engaged in this work must hold a water safety awareness certificate)
- Safe systems of work to include incident triage form, risk assessment, tool box talks, shoreline permit to work and job sign off form to be signed by customer.
- To hold a waster carriers’ licence, use of hazardous and non-hazardous consignment notes.
- Ability to categorise the recovered plastic / debris as hazardous/non-hazardous
EQUIPMENT
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Notes: *Ability to deploy this equipment at short notice (next day) through a sub-contractor or supplier if required.
TRAINING REQUIREMENT
- At least 1 MCA Beachmaster
- All staff to have water awareness course eg DEFRA Water Safety Awareness Module 1
Category 9 – Accredited Capabilities
Provide a 24/7 or next day Spill Response Service
Capability to deal with plastic pollution or debris on sand, shingle, rocky or muddy shorelines
