Sustainable modern industrial development

• Where is Torr Quarry?

  • South-east of the M5 - can easily be accessed by trucks to import and export goods
  • East of ports - can use waterways to transport goods
• What is a quarry?

  Open mine
• Issues with quarries?


  • Quarries have been cut out of the countryside
  • Huge waste tips are piled up on the edges of mining settlements
• What is a pro of torr quarry?

  Creates employment
• What are the cons of torr quarry?

  • Eyesore
  • Noise and air pollution
  • Habitats are destroyed
  • Unsafe
  • Decrease tourism industry
  • Trucks burn fuels
  • Short-term employment only

  Disadvantages can be mitigated by prior careful planning.
• Ways industries are becoming more environmentally sustainable

  • Technology can be used to reduce harmful emissions from power stations and heavy industry, e.g. capturing fumes before they are released from chimney stacks into the atmosphere
  • Desulphurisation can remove harmful gases e.g. sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from power station chimneys
  • Stricter environmental targets put in place for industry on water quality, air pollution, and landscape damage.
  • Heavy fines imposed when an industrial pollution incident occurs
• Facts on Torr Quarry

  • One of eight limestone quarries on the Mendip Hills
  • 100 directly employed
  • £15 million brought into local economy
  • Began extraction in the 1940s
  • Limestone is used for buildings and aggregate for roads
• How is the quarry being economically sustainable?

  • Locals employed in and around quarry - blasters, transportation
  • Money is spent locally - workers can buy lunch from local shops
• How is the quarry being socially sustainable?

  • Rail transport is used to move limestone - reduces congestion on roads for locals of lorries that would otherwise be moving the limestone
• How is the quarry being environmentally sustainable?

  • Areas of the quarry where there is no limestone left is being restored by creating wildlife lakes for recreation and water supply
  • Over 200 acres have been landscaped using afforestation to hide the quarry
  • Regular monitoring of noise from blasting, vibration, and emissions area carried out
  • Deepening the quarry instead of expending its size to reduce impact on the environment
• "Use an example to demonstrate how modern industries can be made more environmentally sustainable"

  Intro - locate Torr Quarry, a nationally important source of construction materials

  P1 - Overcoming damage by regeneration and afforestation of over 200 acres of land - people and wildlife can now use the area and are less likely to object to further expansion

  P2 - Overcoming noise with regular monitoring to keep within environmental limits - not pollute the environments

  P3 - Overcomes fuel emissions by transporting by rail - reduces congestion and pollution