The Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) promotes the use of sustainable practices during implementation of remedial action activities with the objective of balancing economic viability, conservation of natural resources and biodiversity, and the enhancement of the quality of life in surrounding communities.
SURF’s primary objective is to provide a forum for various stakeholders in remediation — industry, government agencies, environmental groups, consultants, and academia — to collaborate, educate, advance, and develop consensus on the application of sustainability concepts throughout the lifecycle of remediation projects, from site investigation to closure.
SURF authored a groundbreaking White Paper on sustainable remediation that was published in a special edition of the Summer 2009 Remediation Journal, and is currently available in our collection of sustainable remediation resources and in our library. The White Paper communicates SURF members’ thoughts on incorporating sustainability principles into environmental remediation. In this paper, sustainable remediation is broadly defined as a remedy or a combination of remedies whose net benefit on human health and the environment is maximized through the judicious use of limited resources.
SURF published three new guidance documents in the Summer 2011 issue of the Remediation Journal. These documents — a Framework for Integrating Sustainability into Remediation Projects; Metrics for Integrating Sustainability Evaluations into Remediation Projects; and Guidance for Performing Footprint Analyses and LCAs for the Remediation Industry — are also available in our library.