Mosleys

Here at Mosley’s environmental safety is our top priority and everything we do complies with the very latest legislation. The government’s vision for sustainable waste management, Waste Strategy 2000, has obliged organisations of all kinds to take responsibility for the waste they create in order to protect the environment – and rightly so. The production of waste now needs to be limited as much as possible, and any waste created must be recycled if possible or dealt with in a sustainable manner.

Landfill

Under the terms of the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations of 2002 and the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC), the use of landfill now needs to be as minimal as possible in order to reduce its negative effects on the environment. Landfill has been divided into three recognised types – hazardous, non-hazardous and inert – and certain types of waste are banned from landfill:

• liquid waste (excluding sludge)
• explosive, corrosive, oxidising or flammable waste
• hospital and clinical waste
• laboratory chemicals
• tyres (whole or shredded)
• gypsum-based waste

Inert landfill sites can only accept waste that will not undergo any significant physical, chemical or biological changes and includes materials such as fibreglass, glass, concrete, brick, tiles, ceramics, stones and soil (excluding topsoil). The amount of biodegradable waste being sent to landfill has also been reduced under the terms of the Landfill Directive.

Local authorities in particular have been set stringent targets to lower the levels of household waste, aiming for a 25% reduction by 2010, 50% by 2013 and 65% by 2020. They have also been set targets to recycle and compost household waste of 30% by 2010 and 33% by 2015. Substantial fines will be imposed on authorities that do not meet their targets.

The introduction of the European Waste Catalogue has affected all waste producers by categorising waste into 20 main groups and around 900 codes. As the Landfill Regulations have controlled what can be sent to landfill, waste collectors now have very limited options for sending waste there. As a further measure to reduce landfill, the standard rate of landfill tax has been increasing by £8 per year, and will be reviewed in 2013 when it reaches £72. To help local authorities reach their landfill diversion targets, the government has introduced the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, which allows them to legally ‘trade’ their landfill allowances between each other.

Packaging

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive of 1994 and the Packaging Regulations of 1997 aim to minimise the use of packaging, increase its reuse and encourage its recycling. The amount of packaging that waste producers must recover and recycle is partly determined by the amount they handle; certain businesses must undergo ‘threshold’ tests to establish these targets.

• cardboard and paper
• glass bottles
• metal cans
• plastic film and bottles
• wooden crates and pallets

Each year UK businesses must meet their individual recovery and recycling targets so that the UK as a whole can meet the targets in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. However, these targets exclude a number of smaller businesses. The UK’s national targets for 2008 were overall recovery 60%; overall recycling 55%; material specific recycling – paper 60%, glass 60%, metals 50%, plastic 22.5% and wood 15%.

WEEE

Recycling and recovery targets for electrical products were set by the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive of 2003. Obligations under this legislation include:

• a compulsory household collection target
• financing and management of consumer electrical waste to be the responsibility of the producer
• collective or individual financing schemes to be used by producers
• banning of heavy metals and toxic flame retardants in manufacture of appliances
• measures to minimise the disposal of WEEE by consumers
• banning of the re-use of appliances with ‘clever chips’ (apart from printer cartridges)
• producers to guarantee to share the costs of treating historical WEEE in proportion to their market share

Environmental protection

The terms of the Environmental Protection Act sets out the main legislation in relation to waste management, outlining the following:

• the definition of waste
• the role of the waste collection and disposal authorities and the Environment Agency
• the waste management licensing system
• the statutory duty of care with regard to waste
• criminal offences regarding waste.

Under the terms of the Act it is an offence to:

• deposit controlled waste
• permit controlled waste to be deposited on land
• keep, treat or dispose of controlled waste without an appropriate licence

Hazardous waste

The purpose of the Hazardous Waste Regulations of 2005 is to outline legislation regarding hazardous waste and to apply the codes of the European Waste Catalogue (EWC).

It is the responsibility of waste producers to decide if their waste is hazardous. If necessary, waste can undergo testing to determine whether or not it meets hazardous criteria. Producers of more than 500 kg of hazardous waste per year are legally obliged to register all their sites with the Environment Agency and undergo an official inspection before any waste can be collected. When waste is collected it must be accompanied by a consignment note and a fee is paid to the Environment Agency. Different types of hazardous waste must not be mixed and should be stored separately. Certain sites may be exempt; for example agricultural premises, offices, shops, WEEE collectors, dental, veterinary and medical practices and ships. Domestic waste is not included in these regulations unless it contains asbestos.