New rules for waste treatment
October 1st 2007 From the end of October 2007 every business will need to treat their non-hazardous waste before disposal to landfill, says Heather Cholerton, Envirowise programme delivery leader
While there are already regulations in place which compel firms to separate and treat hazardous waste,1 from 30th October businesses will also need to treat their non-hazardous waste destined for landfill which could include anything from metals,wood and soil to food waste, paper and plastic.
The regulations represent the next step in the Europe-wide Landfill Directive2 and are likely to change the way businesses think about and handle thousands of tonnes of waste on a daily basis.The main objective is to encourage companies to consider options for elimination, minimisation, re-use, recycling and recovery of their wastes.
'Treatment' can be as simple as collecting wastes in separate streams and arranging for the recycling of one or more of the separated components. It will be the responsibility of landfill operators in England and Wales to ensure that non-hazardous waste has been treated before accepting it for disposal.3 In the longer term these new rules will hopefully encourage people not just to focus on the treatment stage, but to consider whether waste needs to be generated at all. Ideally companies will put in place a broad programme of resource and waste management, including both hazardous and nonhazardous materials.
We know from experience that these companies will see that by improving resource efficiency and cutting waste in their day-to-day operations, they are not only able to better respond to regulation, but can actually achieve significant, long-term business benefits.
For example, Envirowise is currently partner to the HAZRED project which is due to come to a close this November. Led by the Environment Agency and funded by EU Life-Environment, HAZRED has seen UK companies across six key industry sectors work with specialists to identify opportunities to minimise their hazardous waste output and boost compliance and competitiveness in the process.With an overriding aim of bringing small companies onto a level playing field with larger firms, the project has been sharing best practice advice across the UK and Europe.
Activity has been focused on the six sectors identified as being most in need of support: machinery manufacture, metal finishing, motor vehicles, speciality chemicals, photographic & print and construction. Participants have benefited from confidential, sectorspecific advice and guidance, delivered by industry specialists.
To help disseminate the lessons of this project as widely as possible, six sector-specific plans have been produced on the topic of hazardous waste reduction.These are free to download and made available for companies at www.hazred.org.uk.
For more information on how to save money through the efficient use of resources and the reduction of waste, or to apply for an on-site 'FastTrack' visit, businesses can call the Envirowise Advice Line onthe number below, or visit www.envirowise.gov.uk. Further guidance on the Treatment of Non-Hazardous Wastes for Landfill can be found on the Environment Agency website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk 1.The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) regulations 2005 2. Applied by the Landfill (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 amending the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 3. http://publications.environmentagency.
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