Hello
You should avoid reading this at lunchtime.
We are developing a site which amongst other things used to be a
farm. As the foundations were being dug a pit was uncovered,
containing about 8m3 of animal bones, straw and clay infill. For
anybody interested I can send photo's of the bones. There was no
skin or flesh on the bones and at a rough guess I think they are from
chickens and sheep. Given the most recent use of the land it is
likely that the pit has been there for at least 30 years. It is
unlikely that any illegal activity has been going on and I doubt that
there was any disease issue. As the natural ground is a stiff clay
there are also no ground water issues. If it wasn't for doubts over
the bearing capacity of old bones and also the incredibly bad smell,
the bones could probably stay where they are.
So the questions are; Do I need to tell any authority and if so which
one and can I simply put the bones back in a pit elsewhere on the
site away from any critical foundations or human contact?
I think I know the answer to the first question as the bones fall
under Animal Byproducts legislation so it will probably be dealt with
by Trading Standards. The fact that the bones fall under Animal
Byproducts is why I want to leave them on site, as finding a place to
dispose of them will be difficult as most Landfills don't want to get
involved in Animal Byproducts and finding an ABPR approved composting
site or incinerator which is willing to take the material given the
clay content will be difficult.
Your thoughts would be most welcome.
Yours
Peter Hewitt
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