LEGISLATION

Legislation in the waste management market place is constantly changing as our European partners become greener. This has meant that the UK government has introduced legislation to comply with the new legislation.

When assessing your site systems, you must now be more aware of the impact of current and future legislation to ensure legal compliance. We list below some of the current regulations with relevant links.

 

Landfill Tax:

This is a tax raised by customs and excise on landfill operators. Every ton of petreseable waste which is tipped on landfill attracts tax. This tax will be £40 from 1st April 2009, £48 from 1st April 2010 and £56 from 1st April 2011. This tax is passed on through contractors to you, the end users. Inert waste, such as bricks, rubble and soil only attract a £3 per ton tax as long as it is not contaminated with other wastes. Obviously the less waste you generate the better, and then the more you recycle will lessen your tax liability. (Visit Customs and Excise)

Duty of Care:

It is the responsibility of the waste generator to ensure that their waste is disposed of in a correct manner. To ensure this is done you need to use a disposal company with a licence and do an annual check to follow your waste to its final destination. Any vehicle leaving your site needs to have your waste securely controlled to prevent spillage. (Visit the Environment Agency Site)

Packaging Regulations (Pack Regs):

The Pack Regs were introduced in 1997. They stipulate that any Company handling over 50 tons of packaging per annum and have a turnover exceeding £2 million need to comply with the regulations. To comply you can join a compliance scheme or complete the "self-obligation" route.. Either which way, you need to complete the table to work out your tonnage figures handled. With these figures and dependent on the annual UK target and your company's function, a formulae or two will work out what tonnage you need to reuse and recycle. You must then purchase Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN's) to match your target tonnages. At the end of the year you send your PRN's plus table to the Department of Environment. (Visit the Environment Agency Site)

WEEE:

This is now fully active. The Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment stipulates that electric items are now deemed hazardous waste. For businesses you need to separate any goods which use batteries or have a cable to power it. This includes computers, monitors, printers, photocopiers, battery chargers, microwaves etc. We can quote you for the disposal of these items.

Animal By Products Regulations:

These came into force in 2006. The legislation is in place to stop the risk of another "foot and mouth" outbreak. In essence certain meat wastes, or any other food in contact with meat, must be dealt with separately. This material will need to be in-vessel composted,rendered or burnt. The impact to your business will be dependant on its function. (Vist DEFRA)

 

NEW LANDFILL DIRECTIVE - "PRE-SORT":

What is the New Requirement?

It is now law that waste must be treated before it is disposed of at non-hazardous and inert landfills. This requirement already applies to hazardous waste. Pre-treatment came into force in November 07.

Who is Affected?

Landfills cannot accept untreated waste. Waste producers therefore have a choice. They can treat waste themselves or ensure that it is treated elsewhere before being landfilled.

In layman's terms, you either pretreat your own waste prior to it being sent to landfill or PAY someone to do it for you, i.e. the waste contractor. This new legislation has major cost implications if not carried out properly!

a) If you don't pretreat your waste yourself and allow someone else to do it for you, expect your present waste disposal costs to increase dramatically!

b) Recycling is an acceptable form of treatment. If you treat your waste yourself by recycling certain items in your waste stream, you not only save money by not paying someone else to do it for you, you also save money by reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

 

DISPOSAL OF MATERIAL

Dependant on the type of material you generate, there are different routes for it to be disposed of.

Recycling:

This is where the material will be collected and made into another product.

Composting:

Biodegradable material is shredded and blended. Over a period of between 6 - 10 weeks it will breakdown into compost.

Incineration:

Incineration can be done on site using a burner or at a large incineration plant. Various materials are not suitable for burning and the Clean Air Act 1974 governs emissions.

Rendering:

This is where various catering and hazardous waste is processed to generate an inert product.

Re-use:

Various packaging may not be suitable for your company but it is still able to be used by other companies. A good example of this are certain sized cardboard boxes which are then used by removal companies.

Landfill:

If material cannot be separated for any of the above, by default it will end up in landfill.