Sustainability and Remediation - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 917

reporting for an organisation may be across a wide range of operations, not just con-
taminated site remediation. Consequently, issues of interest in remediation such as
soil functionality or landscape conservation may not form part of general corporate
reporting, particularly if these are linked to a limited set of quantified organisational
goals such as carbon, water and waste management.
One way forward from this dilemma is to focus on a set of corporate “Key
Performance Indicators” which reflect the organisations overall sustainability
reporting. These will only be a partial view of remediation sustainability, but these
indicators could be supported by reporting of how individual projects have met
specific sustainability criteria agreed by the stakeholders involved in each project.

20.3.3 Frameworks and Boundaries

For any comparison to be valid like must be compared with like. For example,
comparing an on site biopile with removal to landfill will not be valid unless the
boundaries of the system being compared are the same. It is important to define
objectives as closely as possible, being specific, for example, about the exact scope,
and the exact options being considered. The better defined the scope and options,
the more reliable the sustainability appraisal. There are four broad categories of
boundaries that should be considered:

• the “system boundary”, which is the boundary affected by the framework within

which contaminated site decision making is made and includes the scope for
remediation set by preceding management decisions;

• the “life cycle assessment boundary” - while Life Cycle Assessment focuses

only on a range of environmental impacts, “Life Cycle Thinking” may also be
appropriate for a wider range of sustainability indicators (Koneczny et al. 2007 );

• geographical boundaries; and

• the duration over which effects are to be considered.

The system boundary describes the “edges” of the system being considered,
i.e. where it interfaces with the surrounding environment, society or economic
processes or other systems. The system boundary (US Environmental Protection
Agency 2006 ) encompasses the following:

• Scope of the system being considered: for example a choice of ex situ reme-

diation/disposal methods for dealing with excavated soil generated during con-
struction of a basement, some of which may be contaminated. The scope of
what is being considered is determined directly by the overall framework within
which contaminated site management decisions have been taken as described in
Section 20.2.3 .

• Operations such as: conceptualisation, design, mobilisation, delivery, construc-

tion, utilisation, production, refurbishment, maintenance and decommissioning.