De-Commissioning of Containers & Tanks
We manage the safe decommissioning and removal of redundant tanks, containers and vessels, including cleaning, gas-freeing, cutting and recycling of the recovered material. The work is planned around your site so operations continue alongside it.
What de-commissioning covers
De-commissioning is taking a tank, vessel or container permanently out of service: emptying it, cleaning it, making it safe to work on, cutting it up or lifting it out, and recycling the recovered material. We arrange and manage the entire sequence, including the disposal of the contents and of the residues that come out with them.
The work covers above-ground and below-ground fuel tanks, process vessels, bulk silos, IBC and drum stock, and redundant pipework and bunds associated with them. Where a tank cannot be removed, we arrange for it to be cleaned, gas-freed and filled with an inert material so it can be safely left in place.
Who it is for
Sites replacing or removing fuel storage. Manufacturers taking a process line out of service. Developers and landowners who have found a buried tank during a site investigation. Landlords who need a tank gone before a lease can be surrendered.
How a de-commissioning project runs
The survey establishes what the vessel held, what remains in it, how it is constructed, what is around it, and how it can physically be removed. That last question decides most of the cost: a tank that can be lifted whole is a different job from one that has to be cut down inside a building.
The written proposal covers the method, the isolation and purging steps, the classification of the residues, the disposal and recycling routes, the lifting or cutting plan, and the reinstatement. Hot works on a vessel that has held flammable product are never carried out until it has been gas-freed and certified.
On site, the contractors we appoint isolate and drain the vessel, remove and consign the residues, clean and gas-free it, and then cut or lift it. Recovered steel and other metals are recycled, and the value is set against the cost of the project rather than absorbed.
Compliance and documentation
Residues from a decommissioned tank are almost always classified separately from the product it held, and frequently as hazardous waste. Each stream is coded, consigned through a registered carrier and taken to a permitted facility.
You receive the full pack: transfer and consignment notes, carrier registrations, facility permit references, the gas-free certificate where hot works were involved, weighbridge tickets, and the recycling confirmation for the recovered metal. For a buried tank, that pack is what a future purchaser's solicitor will ask to see.
Buried tanks and contaminated ground
An underground tank is a different proposition from one standing in a yard. It has to be located and proved before anything is excavated, its contents removed through the existing access rather than by breaking into it, and the surrounding ground assessed once it is out — because a tank that has leaked has usually left something behind, and discovering that after the hole has been backfilled is the expensive order of events.
Where the ground is contaminated, the excavated material is a waste stream in its own right and is classified, consigned and disposed of as such. Where it is not, we say so in writing, which is a document worth having if the site is ever sold.
Removal, or safe abandonment in place
Not every tank can come out. Where a vessel sits beneath a building, under a live service, or where excavation would undermine a structure, the alternative is decommissioning in place: cleaned, gas-freed, its connections cut and capped, and the void filled with an inert material such as foamed concrete so it cannot collapse or refill.
That is a legitimate outcome and is documented as one. The record states what was left, where, in what condition and why — which is what a future owner, a surveyor or an insurer needs, and what distinguishes a decommissioned tank from a forgotten one.
De-Commissioning — common questions
Taking a redundant tank, vessel or container safely out of service: isolating it, removing and disposing of the residual contents, cleaning and, where needed, gas-freeing it, then cutting it down and removing it for recycling or disposal. Each stage is planned around your operation so the rest of the site keeps running.
It is evidenced from the first survey to the final consignment note. The residues and the vessel itself are classified and routed separately, because they are usually different wastes.
Yes, and that is exactly where the care goes. A tank that has held a flammable or volatile product retains vapour long after it looks empty, so it is emptied, cleaned and gas-freed, and its atmosphere is tested to confirm it is safe, before any cutting or hot work starts.
The residue left in the bottom of such a tank is frequently hazardous even when the bulk product was not, so it is sampled and classified rather than assumed. The work is carried out by contractors we appoint and check, to the appropriate confined-space and hot-work controls.
The metal is sent for recycling wherever it can be, and any hazardous residue or contaminated material is consigned to a permitted facility. Recovering the steel keeps material out of disposal and offsets part of the cost of the job.
You receive the duty-of-care paperwork for every stream that leaves the site — the residues, the contaminated items and the vessel itself — with the classification and the receiving facility recorded for each.
More questions are answered on our FAQs page.
Get a price for de-commissioning
Tell us what is on site and we will arrange a free survey, then put a written proposal in front of you with the compliance route set out in full.