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A SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED REPORT WASTE MANAGEMENT: THE NEW LEGISLATIVE CLIMATE Caroline Hand MSc THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

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Page 1: Waste Management

A SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED REPORT

WASTE MANAGEMENT:THE NEW LEGISLATIVECLIMATE

Caroline Hand MSc

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

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IFC

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T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

A SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED REPORT

WASTE MANAGEMENT:THE NEW LEGISLATIVECLIMATE

Caroline Hand MSc

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Thorogood Publishing Ltd

10-12 Rivington Street

London EC2A 3DU.

t: 020 7749 4748

f: 020 7729 6110

e: [email protected]

w: www.thorogood.ws

© Caroline Hand MSc 2006

All rights reserved. No part

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Other ThorogoodProfessional Insights

Applying the Employment Act 2002– Crucial Developments forEmployers and Employees

Audrey Williams

Commercial Litigation: Damagesand Other Remedies

Robert Ribeiro

IT Governance

David Norfolk

Email – Legal Issues

Susan Singleton

Employee Sickness and Fitness for Work

Gillian Howard

Software Contract Agreements

Robert Bond

Special discounts for bulk quantities of Thorogood books are available tocorporations, institutions, associations andother organisations. For more informationcontact Thorogood by telephone on 020 7749 4748, by fax on 020 7729 6110, or email us: [email protected]

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The author

Caroline Hand is a freelance writer and lecturer on environmental legislation

and policy, specialising in waste management. She is Consultant Editor of Croner’s

Waste Management information service and has been responsible for providing

the quarterly updates since 1992. Along with Jeff Cooper of the Environment

Agency, Caroline also gives regular seminars on waste management for

Croner Training.

Her previous responsibilities include two years as Specialist Assistant to the House

of Commons Environment Committee.

Acknowledgements

The information in this report is drawn from various sources, but I would partic-

ularly like to acknowledge my debt to Jeff Cooper, Richard Hawkins and the

team at ENDS Report, all of whom have provided invaluable insights into the

current developments surrounding waste.

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Contents

Executive summary ....................................................................................vi

1 POLICY FRAMEWORK 1

Principles of environmental and waste legislation .................................2

UK policy ......................................................................................................4

Achieving the objectives .............................................................................4

2 OVERVIEW OF WASTE REGULATION 7

Definition of waste.......................................................................................8

Permitting and licensing of waste facilities ............................................11

Duty of care and fly-tipping......................................................................18

Other recent legislation with relevance to waste ..................................20

3 HAZARDOUS WASTE 24

Introduction................................................................................................25

Hazardous waste arisings.........................................................................26

What is hazardous waste? ........................................................................27

Duties under the hazardous waste regulations ......................................38

4 LANDFILL REGULATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT 43

Introduction................................................................................................44

Overview of the landfill directive .............................................................45

The co-disposal ban and the ‘hazardous waste crisis’ ..........................50

Waste acceptance criteria (WAC) ............................................................57

Technical details of the WAC....................................................................60

Characterization, testing and sampling (WAP)......................................67

Conclusion..................................................................................................71

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5 PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY 73

General principles .....................................................................................74

Packaging ...................................................................................................74

End-of-life vehicles ....................................................................................79

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) ..............................84

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE 90

Local authority responsibilities ................................................................91

Local authorities and the landfill directive..............................................91

Landfill allowances and trading scheme (LATS) ....................................94

Implication of landfill diversion targets ..................................................96

Changes to planning principles ...............................................................99

GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS 101

CONTENTS

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Executive summary

This Report gives a brief overview of the most important changes to waste policy

and legislation over the last two to three years, and looks ahead to further changes

in the pipeline for 2006. It will be of especial interest to industrial waste producers,

even more so if some of their waste is hazardous. However, the changes

documented here have implications for the whole of society, from householders

to Government departments, and there is no individual or organization which

will not be affected by at least one of the developments described.

Chapter 1 outlines the main aims of EU and UK policy, focusing on the objec-

tive of shifting waste away from landfill to recovery and recycling. Chapter 2 moves

on to examining the regulatory regimes which govern waste management. Well-

established legislation such as the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is not

considered in detail; instead the focus is on newer developments such as the regula-

tion of waste facilities under the Pollution Prevention and Control regime, and

the recent initiatives to clamp down on fly-tipping.

Chapters 3 and 4 examine the impact of two EU Directives that have brought

about a major reshaping of waste management in the UK – the Hazardous Waste

Directive and the Landfill Directive. The chapter on Hazardous Waste (Chapter

3) gives practical information for hazardous waste producers, detailing their

new duties under the new Regulations and, in particular, explaining how to assess

whether waste is hazardous. Around 180 waste streams became hazardous for

the first time during 2005, and it is essential to know whether your waste is one

of these.

The chapter on the Landfill Directive (Chapter 4) and its impact scrutinizes the

much-disputed ‘hazardous waste crisis’ which was predicted to arise from the

co-disposal ban of 2004. What has happened to all the hazardous waste which

was formerly landfilled at co-disposal sites? No-one knows for sure, but a recent

survey has yielded some revealing information. What is certain is that industry’s

waste costs are set to continue rising sharply as companies foot the bill for the

additional treatment or specialized landfill required under the new regime.

The second part of the chapter describes in detail the Waste Acceptance Criteria,

and explains the practical steps which hazardous waste producers must take

in order to comply with the Landfill Regulations. Many companies are not yet

aware of their statutory duties to notify the Agency and ensure that their wastes

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are sampled, tested and characterized – requirements which can be both costly

and time consuming.

The Packaging Regulations have been in force for eight years but are still a cause

for concern for many businesses. Producer responsibility is now being

extended to two further waste streams – end of life vehicles (ELVs) and waste

electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Chapter 5 outlines the current and

proposed regulations, with information on how the WEEE Directive is to be

implemented.

Finally, Chapter 6 looks at the impact of the Landfill Directive on local author-

ities. It outlines the new system of landfill allowances and describes how changes

to planning policy are being introduced in order to encourage the development

of new waste treatment sites. Without a massive investment in new composting,

treatment and energy recovery facilities, the UK cannot hope to meet its EU targets

for diversion of waste from landfill.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Chapter 1Policy framework

Principles of environmental and waste legislation ...........................2

UK policy ................................................................................................4

Achieving the objectives.......................................................................4

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

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Chapter 1Policy framework

Principles of environmental and waste legislation

Most of our waste and environmental legislation has its source in Europe. All

the major changes to the law described in this Report – such as the Landfill Regula-

tions, Hazardous Waste Regulations, producer responsibility schemes and Landfill

Allowances and Trading Scheme – have been introduced in order to implement

EU directives.

The key principles of EU waste policy were taking shape as early as 1974 when

the first Waste Framework Directive was published. General environmental princi-

ples which influence waste directives are:

• the Polluter Pays Principle – which underlies, for example, producer

responsibility legislation;

• the Precautionary Principle which states that where there are threats

of serious or irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty shall not

be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent

environmental degradation. This is illustrated by the Waste Incineration

Directive, which sets extremely stringent emission limits; and

• the Proximity Principle (waste to be disposed of at the nearest suitable

facility).

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The 1989 Community Waste Strategy gave legal expression to the concept of

the waste hierarchy. The UK’s revised National Waste Strategy sets it out as

follows:

The waste hierarchy

The waste diversion targets in the Landfill Directive (see Chapter 6, Local author-

ities and municipal waste) illustrate how legislation is used to move waste up

the hierarchy, encouraging waste producers to reuse, recover and recycle their

waste where practicable, rather than consign it to landfill. Producer responsi-

bility directives such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

also attempt to increase recycling and recovery.

Of course, the primary aim of waste legislation is to ensure that waste manage-

ment activities are carried out in a way which does not harm the environment.

The objectives of the Waste Framework Directive 75/442/EEC, amended by

91/156/EEC include:

‘ensuring that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human

health and without using processes or methods which could harm the environ-

ment and in particular without

i) risk to water, soil, plants or animals

ii) causing nuisance through noise or odours

iii) adversely affecting the countryside or places of special interest.’

When courts are called on to make judgements on the interpretation of waste

law, such as in the recent Van de Walle case (see Chapter 2), they will refer back

to these basic objectives of waste regulation.

Waste reduction

Reuse

Materials recycling and composting

Energy recovery

Disposal (landfill and incineration without energy recovery)

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UK policy

“The overall objective of Government policy on waste, as set out in the strategy

for sustainable development, is to protect human health and the environment

by producing less waste and by using it as a resource wherever possible…the

Government aims to break the link between economic growth and the environ-

mental impact of waste. This means a step-change in the way waste is handled

and significant new investment in waste management facilities.” (Planning Policy

Statement (PPS) 10 Planning for Sustainable Waste Management, July 2005, avail-

able on www.odpm.gov.uk.)

This quote shows how UK policy directly reflects the EU objectives summarized

above. As required by the Waste Framework Directive, the UK Government has

produced a national waste plan, Waste Strategy 2000. As the title might suggest,

this is already out of date and the strategy has been built upon by subsequent

documents and reports. It has most recently been amended by a July 2005

document, Changes to Waste Management Decision Making Principles in Waste

Strategy 2000 (available on www.defra.gov.uk), and supplemented by PPS 10.

These policy documents, and the decision making principles set out to achieve

their goals, are discussed further in the section on planning in Chapter 6, Local

authorities and municipal waste.

Waste reduction is undeniably at the top of the hierarchy but it cannot really

be legislated for, and the Government is only able to offer exhortation and infor-

mation to waste producers (for example, via Envirowise). When it comes to

legislation and detailed policy measures, the Government’s objective has really

been to shift waste from landfill to recycling and recovery.

Achieving the objectives

Legislation

Most directives are implemented through national legislation, and in the UK there

has recently been a plethora of new statutory instruments implementing the

Landfill Directive, Hazardous Waste Directive, End of Life Vehicles Directive and

so on. Most of these sets of regulations transpose the specific targets and require-

ments of directives, such as the waste diversion targets and Waste Acceptance

Criteria in the Landfill Directive or the national targets for recycling waste electrical

and electronic equipment.

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However, Governments are free to adopt other approaches towards achieving

their environmental objectives.

Market mechanisms

The UK has traditionally tended to leave more to the private sector and free market

than have other Member States. So, for example, the Government is looking to

the private waste companies to remedy the shortfall in treatment capacity for

hazardous waste (see Chapter 4, Landfill regulations and their impact).

Economic instruments such as the landfill tax, aggregates levy and Packaging

Waste Recovery Notes can be used to divert waste from landfill.

One of the chief barriers to increasing recycling has always been the lack of

markets, or fluctuating markets, for recycled materials. The Government has

sponsored WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) to create

markets and generally encourage voluntary efforts towards waste reduction,

recycling and recovery. This can be seen as a necessary corrective to traditional

market mechanisms, making them take account of environmental costs and

benefits. The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Committee commented that ‘It is hard to overstate the importance of markets

for recycled goods and materials. A step change is needed to ensure that waste

is valued for the resources it contains’. (Eighth Report of 2002-2003, The Future

of Waste Management, available at www.parliament.uk/efracom). However, some

take a more sceptical view such as well-known waste lawyer Richard Hawkins

who sees little point in “using construction rubbish to produce building blocks

as expensive as veined Carrera marble” and is unhappy that “even if the recycled

materials cannot find a market, their production must be subsidized by the tax

and/or rate payer until (hopefully) markets become established”. (The Practical

Guide to Waste Management Law, by R G P Hawkins and H S Shaw, Thomas

Telford, 2004.)

Success or otherwise?

However worthwhile the environmental objectives of waste policy, little will be

achieved if proposed EU legislation is poorly thought out, ambiguously drafted

and fails to take into account the specific situations of stakeholders within Member

States. (Such allegations have been laid against aspects of the Landfill Direc-

tive.) Once a directive has been adopted, confusion will result if the new legislation

is not communicated clearly to those affected, and subsequently backed up with

adequate funding and firm enforcement. The Commons Environment, Food and

Rural Affairs Committee, in its eighth report cited above, concluded that DEFRA

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‘does not seem to have a real sense of where it wants to go, and the Agency

still appears to be under-funded for its regulatory role. Once again, we question

the Department’s ability to negotiate and implement European Union laws to

the best advantage of the United Kingdom’.

The subsequent chapters report both achievements and failures in the Govern-

ment’s efforts to move the UK towards sustainable waste management.

Recycling of municipal waste has increased and targets have been fully or nearly

met; industry has taken steps to reduce the generation of hazardous waste; local

authorities are putting into practice the environmentally sound principles of

integrated waste management. However, at the same time the Government has

been the focus of sustained criticism from both waste producers and waste

managers due to the lack of resolve, delays and uncertainty involved in imple-

menting far reaching EU measures such as the landfill Waste Acceptance Criteria

and WEEE Directive. The new requirements have produced a dramatic

upheaval in the waste management scene, challenging Government, industry

and regulators alike, and it will be some years before the overall balance of costs

and benefits to society becomes apparent.

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Chapter 2Overview of waste regulation

Definition of waste.................................................................................8

Permitting and licensing of waste facilities ......................................11

Duty of care and fly-tipping................................................................18

Other recent legislation with relevance to waste ............................20

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

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Chapter 2Overview of waste regulation

Definition of waste

It is very important to understand the legal definition of waste, which is estab-

lished at EU level. Materials will only be subject to waste legislation if they fall

within the scope of the definition. For example, radioactive waste is excluded

from the definition of waste because it is controlled under separate, specialized

legislation. Of greater concern to industry is the fact that many useful materials,

which have an economic value, are regarded in law as waste and subject to

controls such as licensing, hazardous waste consignment procedures and the

Duty of Care. The effect of court judgements over the years has been to broaden

the definition of waste to cover almost all secondary materials. This will be

discussed in greater detail below.

Legislation

WASTE

The definition of waste throughout the EU is taken from the revised Waste Frame-

work Directive 75/442/EEC, as amended by 91/156/EEC. Article 1 of the

Directive defines ‘waste’ as ‘any substance or object which the holder discards,

or intends to or is required to discard’. A list of waste categories follows,

but the courts regard this as being for guidance only. The key word is ‘discard’:

if someone is deemed to have discarded the material, it is waste regardless of

its value to subsequent holders. The interpretation of ‘discard’ was widened

dramatically in the recent Van de Walle case (see below) to include the contam-

ination of soil from an unintentional spillage.

The following materials are excluded from the EU definition of waste:

• gaseous emissions

• radioactive waste

• waste from mining and quarrying (though waste from buildings at

mines and quarries is not excluded)

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• natural, non-dangerous materials used in agriculture such as manure

• waste waters.

CONTROLLED WASTE

UK waste controls apply only to ‘controlled wastes’ which are defined in the

Environmental Protection Act 1990 as

• household waste

• commercial waste

• industrial waste.

The precise meaning of these three types is spelled out in the Act and clarified

in the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No. 588). The term ‘house-

hold waste’ is used broadly to include wastes from institutions such as prisons,

nursing homes and community halls. EU legislation refers instead to ‘domestic

waste’ which refers only to waste from private dwellings. The hazardous waste

legislation (see Chapter 3, Hazardous waste) uses the EU term.

The term ‘directive waste’ was coined in 1994 to describe all wastes covered by

the EU definition. Threatened with EU infraction proceedings, the UK is having

to extend the definition of controlled waste to cover agricultural and mineral

‘directive wastes’. This will come into force during 2006 in England and Wales.

It has serious implications for farmers who will no longer be able to burn and

dump waste on their land in an uncontrolled fashion. Some will have to apply

for waste management licences. Hazardous agricultural wastes such as pesti-

cides will be subject to the hazardous waste legislation, including restrictions

on landfill. The collection of waste plastics from farms is another issue of concern:

these can be recycled but a previous voluntary collection scheme failed due to

‘free riders’ making it uneconomic.

Scotland has already extended its waste controls to mining and agricultural

wastes, under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005 No. 22).

Court cases

The precise meaning of ‘waste’ has been hammered out in court cases over the

years. A fundamental principle of looking at the disputed material from the point

of view of the producer is illustrated in a 1987 case, Berridge Incinerators Ltd v

Nottinghamshire County Council (1987) where the judge said, “If I have an old

fireplace to dispose of to a passing rag and bone man, its character as a waste

is not affected by whether or not I can persuade the latter to pay me 50p for it.

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In my judgement, the correct approach is to regard the material from the point

of view of the person who produces it…”

However, it is not always this straightforward and the definition of waste continues

to be a moot point of lengthy court cases both in the UK and the European Court

of Justice. Two recent cases illustrate how as time has passed, the definition has

been extended to take in a greater range of materials that might not intuitively

be regarded as ‘waste’.

CASE STUDY: MAYER PARRY II

Mayer Parry is a large metal recycling company. It stood to gain from selling PackagingWaste Recovery Notes (PRNs) (see the section on Packaging in Chapter 5, Producer Respon-sibility) provided it could demonstrate that it was reprocessing the scrap that it collected.The Environment Agency took the view that the steelworks (Corus), not the metalrecycler, is the reprocessor and therefore the one entitled to sell PRNs.

The European Court of Justice’s (ECJ’s) decision in June 2003 determined that packagingwaste is reprocessed at the steelworks, not at a scrap metal processing facility.

This decision overturned the outcome of the previous judicial review in 1999. The impli-cation for the definition of waste is that the metals remain waste even after treatment byMayer Parry.

CASE STUDY: VAN DE WALLE

This case concerns a Texaco filling station in Brussels where, unbeknown to the stationoperator, more than 800 litres of fuel had leaked into the soil from faulty storage tanks.When the local authority began work on the basement of an adjoining building in 1993,they discovered oily water seeping in through a basement wall and, as a result, the buildingwork had to stop.

Texaco carried out some remediation work but the local authority considered that this wasnot sufficient and carried out further remediation. In order to recover the costs, the Belgiangovernment commenced criminal and civil proceedings against Texaco and three of itssenior staff (including M Van de Walle). Texaco and the three managers were chargedwith the offence of abandoning waste.

At the first trial the defendants were acquitted. The prosecution appealed, but the Courtof Appeal was uncertain as to how the law should be interpreted. It therefore referred thematter to the ECJ to determine

• whether the spilled hydrocarbons and contaminated soil were ‘waste’, and

• whether the oil company, as the supplier of the fuel, could be guilty of unlicensed disposal.

The ECJ considered that the definition of waste in the Waste Framework Directive coveredboth the spilled hydrocarbons and the surrounding contaminated soil. It was argued thatsince, in order to protect the environment, there was a need to deal with the contaminatedsoil (either by removal or remediation) it fell into the category of substances which theholder ‘is required to discard’.

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Review of waste definition

The European Commission is aware of the problems created by the Van de Walle

decision and is taking account of them in its current review of the Waste Frame-

work Directive. It is seeking the views of Member States on the important question

of ‘when a waste ceases to be a waste’.

DEFRA has also promised a general review of the definition of waste, to reflect

recent judgments in the ECJ. The general conclusion will be that even if a waste

has been processed it will still remain a waste until the point at which it has been

utilized as an end product.

The Environment Agency, when deciding whether something is waste, will

consider:

• standards of recycling

• whether there are markets for the recycled material, and

• the risk to the environment from processing.

Permitting and licensing of waste facilities

Waste management facilities such as landfill sites, incinerators, treatment or

composting plants, recycling activities and transfer stations are all regulated

under a permitting regime. The purpose is to ensure that these operations are

well managed and do not present a risk of environmental damage or harm to

human health.

This judgement has immediate implications for the oil industry, but raises a much moreserious concern for owners of contaminated sites. In the UK, it could mean that all contam-ination could be classed as controlled waste and thus fall within the scope of wasteregulation. Anyone with a contaminated site could technically be regarded as operatingan illegal landfill. Likewise, the regulators could find themselves obliged to ensure the remedi-ation of all contaminated sites, regardless of costs and benefits.

At present, the remediation of contaminated land is regulated and enforced under thecontaminated land provisions in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 but thiscarefully drawn up legislation could be rendered irrelevant if all contamination is classedas controlled waste.

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The UK is currently undergoing a period of transition between regimes. The

old system of waste management licensing is gradually being replaced by the

Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) regime, which extends across all kinds

of industries. A few licensed waste activities will remain once PPC is fully imple-

mented: the Government is not yet certain how these will be regulated in the

long term.

Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC)

The PPC regime is gradually replacing older regimes such as Integrated Pollu-

tion Control (IPC), Local Authority Air Pollution Control (LAAPC), waste

management licensing and (for some companies) effluent discharge consents.

LEGISLATION

The regime originates with Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Preven-

tion and Control, implemented in the UK by the Pollution Prevention and

Control Act 1999. The Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales)

Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No. 1973) and Pollution Prevention and Control

(Scotland) Regulations 2000 (SSI 2000 No. 323) flesh out the regime with

detailed provisions and have been subject to a large number of amendments.

A clear and comprehensive guide to the legislation has been issued by the

Environment Agency (IPPC – A Practical Guide, fourth edition, available at:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/ppc/ippcguide/index.htm).

BASIC PRINCIPLES

Industries covered by the regime must obtain a permit from the regulator (which

may be the Environment Agency, SEPA or the local authority). The permit will

lay down detailed conditions intended to protect the environment and, in partic-

ular, to minimize polluting emissions to air, water and land. The conditions are

wide in scope, covering waste minimization, good waste management and the

conservation of resources as well as the control of emissions. Industries are being

phased in to PPC between 2000 and 2007.

The permit conditions will require the use of the Best Available Techniques (BAT)

to minimize the environmental impact of the activity. BAT extends to all aspects

of management, not merely pollution control technology. For most industries

BAT are laid down at EU level in BAT Reference (BREF) documents, though

the regulator is able to take economic factors into account when setting permit

conditions.

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PPC AND THE WASTE INDUSTRY

By 2008 most waste facilities will be regulated under PPC. The regime covers

• all landfills

• almost all incinerators and co-incinerators (apart from a few burning

vegetation etc – see below)

• most waste treatment plants.

These are regulated for the most part by the Environment Agency, although

local authorities retain responsibility for certain smaller incinerators.

FIT AND PROPER PERSON (FAPP)

Waste facilities which were formerly regulated under the licensing regime (see

below) are classed as Specified Waste Management Activities (SWMAs) and

must be managed by a Fit and Proper Person (FAPP). The three requirements

of a FAPP are set out below.

1. Absence of relevant (environmental) convictions. This provision

excludes persistent and deliberate offenders from holding a permit.

Those guilty of unintentional breaches are normally allowed to

continue operations provided the problem is rectified.

2. Technical competence. A FAPP must hold a Certificate of Technical

Competence (COTC) issued by the Waste Management Industry

Training and Advisory Board. Specific courses and certificates apply

to a variety of waste activities (eg hazardous landfill; composting

operations).

3. Financial provision. The operator must make provision to cover the

costs of the facility throughout its operational life, and after it is closed.

The funds should be sufficient to ensure that the site does not present

a threat to the environment either now or in the foreseeable future.

This provision is particularly relevant to landfills, which have the greatest

potential for post-closure environmental impact (eg through leachate

contaminating groundwater, or emissions of methane gas). Landfills

are therefore subject to more stringent financial requirements than

other waste facilities. For example, landfill operators must put away

cash deposits.

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ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS FOR LANDFILLS AND INCINERATORS

The PPC regime in itself would not have had a major impact on the waste manage-

ment industry, as the EU directive applies only to larger installations (for example,

landfills accepting over 10 tonnes of waste per day). However, the UK Govern-

ment has decided to use the PPC regime to implement other key directives, namely:

• The Landfill Directive 99/31/EC

• The Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC (WID).

In order to do this, the Government is extending the PPC regime to all landfills

and almost all incinerators. Many of the requirements of the Landfill Directive

and WID will be included as PPC permit conditions, for example, the ban on

landfills accepting liquid wastes.

The Landfill Directive and its implications are considered in detail in Chapter 4.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE WASTE INCINERATION DIRECTIVE

WID has been implemented in the UK via the Waste Incineration (England

and Wales) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No. 2980) and Waste Incineration

(Scotland) Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003 No. 170) under which incinerator opera-

tors were required to apply for a PPC permit by 31 March 2005. The new controls

come into effect on 28 December 2005 for existing plant.

WID applies to a very wide range of combustion processes, including some that

have not traditionally been viewed as waste incinerators (such as roadstone

coating plant). It imposes stringent pollution control standards on emissions to

air, effluent discharges and solid waste (ash). Some of the limits, for example,

the dioxin emission limit of 0.1ng/m3 and the nitrogen oxides limit of 200 mg/m3,

can only be achieved with the latest state of the art technology.

PROBLEMS WITH WASTE OILS

Incinerator operators will have to upgrade their pollution abatement technology

and monitoring equipment in order to comply with WID. The large merchant

incinerators and co-incinerators (such as cement kilns) will be able to pass on

the costs to their customers. However, smaller ‘incinerators’ such as garage oil

burners and roadstone plant will find it uneconomic to upgrade to WID and if

the directive is interpreted strictly, will have to cease burning waste oils.

This is a matter of concern for these industries and the Agency. In 2002 it was

predicted that most of the 2000 waste oil burners in England and Wales would

have to close down. However, the Government’s view is that such small processes

are not covered by WID. Garages will continue to be able to burn their own

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waste oil, but will probably no longer be able to bring waste oil onto their premises.

The Government proposed in October 2005 that these small burners be

excluded from the waste management licensing regime, in an effort to exempt

them from WID.

Roadstone plants and power stations currently burn about 500,000 tonnes of

waste oil from garages a year. If they continue to do so, they will have to upgrade

in compliance with WID, which is likely to be uneconomic. The Government is

looking into alternative disposal routes for waste oil such as:

• cement kilns (a more costly option)

• steel works (only limited scope for using waste oil).

Another possibility is the introduction of a voluntary producer responsibility

scheme for oil companies, obliging them to collect and regenerate some of their

waste oils. The oil could be treated for reuse, or used as feedstock in refineries.

The European Commission considers that there should be more emphasis on

the regeneration of waste sump oils for use in lubrication products. Britain’s

only waste sump oil regeneration plant, operated by OCC at Stourport, has not

been operating for some years.

Waste management licensing

The waste management licensing regime, which took effect in 1994, is being super-

seded by PPC but still applies across several sectors. The Government has recently

adapted and extended the licensing regime to implement EU Directives on:

• treatment of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), and

• collection and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment

(WEEE).

Further details on ELVs and WEEE can be found in Chapter 5, Producer

responsibility.

BASIC PROVISIONS

Like a PPC permit, a waste management licence is a permit which sets down

detailed conditions of operation in order to protect the environment. The frame-

work for the system of licensing is laid down in the Environmental Protection

Act 1990, with detailed provisions in the Waste Management Licensing Regula-

tions 1994 (SI 1994 No. 1056), as amended. The most recent amendments to

the licensing regulations are found in SI 2005 No. 1728. Because of the very

many amending SIs, the regulations are difficult to follow and the Government

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therefore plans to issue a consolidated version in the near future. The waste

management licensing regime is administered and enforced by the Environment

Agency and SEPA.

A waste management licence may only be issued to a Fit and Proper Person (as

discussed under PPC above).

Particularly with landfills in mind, the regime contains provisions to prevent

or control pollution from facilities which are no longer receiving waste. Before

a licence can be surrendered, the operator must obtain a Certificate of

Completion from the Agency to confirm that the site is stable and no longer

presents a threat to the environment. (This requirement has been carried over

into PPC.) There is concern that the imposition of the co-disposal ban last year

(see Chapter 4, Landfill regulations and their impact) will make it more diffi-

cult to achieve stabilization, leaving operators with closed sites to manage for

many years to come.

As with other environmental permits, the waste management licence is a public

document available for inspection at the local Agency office. This enables waste

producers to check that a site is properly licensed to receive their waste, and

that it has a good record of compliance with legislation.

EXEMPTIONS FROM LICENSING

Obtaining a waste management licence can be a costly and lengthy procedure,

involving detailed technical submissions from the operator. To avoid imposing

unnecessary burdens on activities which do not present much threat to the

environment, the 1994 Regulations included a long list of exemptions. These cover

a variety of recovery processes such as:

• spreading waste on agricultural land as a fertilizer or soil improver

• use of garden waste as mulch, etc in parks

• reuse of construction waste, eg in road building

• small scale recycling activities

• use of waste soil in landscaping

• small scale composting

• storage of limited quantities of waste.

An up-to-date list of the exemptions can be found on the Environment Agency’s

website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/103599/exemp-

tions_doc_2a_1132475.doc. Operators wishing to take advantage of an exemption

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merely have to register basic details with the Agency and pay a small fee. Waste

management activities which are regulated under PPC are not covered by the

licensing regime and do not have to register as exempt.

A separate exemption scheme applied to the scrap metal industry, involving condi-

tions of operation (eg working on an impermeable pavement) and a higher fee.

Since the introduction of the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations last year, the condi-

tions have become more stringent and a greater number of sites require a full

waste management licence (see Chapter 5, Producer responsibility).

RECENT AMENDMENTS TO EXEMPTIONS

The introduction of the landfill tax in 1996 is believed to have resulted in

widespread abuse of the exemptions. Producers of waste soils, aggregates, etc,

unwilling to pay the new higher landfill charges, redirected their waste to exempt

landspreading and landscaping projects such as unnecessary sound attenua-

tion bunds or unduly bumpy golf courses. This deprived the landfill operators

of useful waste which had provided daily cover. Some of the wastes which are

spread on farms are particularly unpleasant – such as blood from abattoirs –

and there were fears in Scotland that excessive spreading of these wastes

presented a risk to health as well as an odour nuisance.

In response, the exemptions were reviewed and amendments issued (in 2004

for Scotland, and 2005 for England and Wales). DEFRA botched the introduc-

tion of the England and Wales Regulations, which were issued no less than three

times within the space of a few weeks, following the discovery of various drafting

errors and a change of heart by the Minister on the subject of composting exemp-

tions. As of July 2005, the latest version was SI 2005 No. 1728.

The main effect of the latest amendments is to tighten up the regulation of certain

categories of exempt activity, notably:

• landspreading

• reuse of construction and demolition waste

• storage and spreading of sewage sludge.

Before these ‘notifiable exempt activities’ are carried out they must be notified

to the Agency, giving details of the waste and reasons why the activity will be

of environmental benefit. The regulations limit the amount of waste that can be

used and the extent of spreading.

Further proposals for amendments to the exemptions were published by DEFRA

in October 2005. These mainly concern the storage of hazardous waste. Those

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wishing to store and burn waste oil in the future are likely to require a full waste

management licence – although small garage burners may be taken out of the

licensing regime altogether (see Problems with waste oils above). The consul-

tation paper is available at:

www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/hazwaste/pdf/consultdoc.pdf.

PERMITTING REVIEW

Once PPC is fully implemented, only a small number of activities will remain

within the licensing regime. The Government has been considering for some

time how these waste activities should be regulated in the future. DEFRA plans

to issue a consultation paper in February 2006, setting out proposals to bring

all waste activities within an extended PPC regime. The new permitting regime

will probably be implemented by changes to the PPC regulations, and will come

into effect during 2008.

It is likely to consist of three tiers:

• registered exemptions

• standard permits

• ‘bespoke’ permits for high-risk sites.

Low risk waste sites would not have to comply with all PPC provisions, and

existing sites would not have to apply for a new permit.

Duty of care and fly-tipping

Despite many years of waste regulation, fly-tipping remains one of our most

commonplace causes of pollution and local nuisance. The Environment Agency

recorded a 19% increase in fly-tipping incidents across England and Wales

between 2001 and 2002 and DEFRA estimates that it costs £1 million a week to

clean up. With the forecast shortage of disposal capacity for hazardous waste,

it is feared that a greater proportion of hazardous waste could be fly-tipped in

the future. Some local authorities – both urban and rural – have observed greater

than average increases in fly-tipping, for example, the London Borough of

Lewisham which recorded 50% rises in the number of incidents in both 2001

and 2002 (figures taken from DEFRA’s 2004 fly-tipping strategy). The Duty of

Care and registration of waste carriers were two measures introduced to help

deter, identify and convict fly-tippers.

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General waste offences

The key criminal offences relating to the environmental impact of waste can be

found in section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. In summary,

it is an offence to:

• deposit waste other than on a licensed (or permitted) site, ie fly-tipping

• contravene the conditions of a waste management licence or PPC permit

• carry out any waste management activity, including storage, treatment

or transport, in a way which causes environmental damage or harm

to human health.

Duty of care

Most people dealing with waste are already familiar with the Duty of Care, as

it has been in force since 1994. In summary, waste holders are responsible for

their waste from cradle to grave and must take all reasonable precautions to

ensure that no subsequent holder commits an offence of unlicensed disposal,

etc, as detailed in s.33 of the Environmental Protection Act. This allows the

regulators to prosecute waste producers for engaging cowboy contractors who

fly-tip the waste and then disappear. To comply with the Duty, waste producers

must:

• draw up a Duty of Care transfer note

• ensure that the waste does not escape, either from the site of

production or in transit

• pass the waste to a registered carrier (see below), or licensed/permitted

contractor, or exempt carrier eg a recycling charity

• ensure that the disposal or treatment facility is licensed to take the waste

and is not likely to breach its conditions.

The Duty of Care transfer note now has to include the six-digit code from the

European Waste Catalogue. For information on how to assign the code, see

Chapter 3, Hazardous waste.

Carriers and prevention of fly-tipping

Waste carriers must be registered with the Environment Agency: those

convicted of fly-tipping will have their registrations revoked. (Waste producers

who transport their own waste do not have to register as carriers, unless it is

construction and demolition waste.) The Agency and local authorities have

recently tightened up their regulation of carriers, since the introduction of new

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powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and Clean Neighbourhoods

and Environment Act 2005 which allow them to stop, search and seize suspect

vehicles. Drivers who do not produce their transfer note on request can be issued

with a £300 fixed penalty.

The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act increased the maximum

fine in a magistrate’s court for unlicensed disposal to £50,000. The same applies

to the offence of treating, keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner

likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health. Convicted

fly-tippers can be ordered to pay the costs of removing the waste and cleaning

up the land. Site owners and occupiers may also have to pay for clean up if they

were implicated in the fly-tipping. The 2005 Act also removes the fly-tippers’

defence that they were acting on their employer’s instructions.

Other recent legislation with relevance to waste

Waste producers are sometimes unaware of the breadth of legislation relevant

to waste management. In particular, the following areas of regulation must be

taken into account when waste is classified, handled, treated, transported and

disposed of:

• health and safety, including chemicals legislation such as COSHH and

CHIP

• carriage of dangerous goods

• animal by-products

• contaminated land

• planning.

These are all specialized areas of legislation warranting separate reports of their

own. The aim of this section is to highlight recent developments which affect

waste producers, local authorities and the waste industry.

Carriage of dangerous goods

If hazardous waste is to be transported by road, rail, air or sea, the consignor

must make sure that the waste is packaged, labelled and conveyed in compli-

ance with the dangerous goods legislation. In 2004 the European ADR

Agreement on the carriage of dangerous goods by road took full effect in the

UK, replacing the previous national regulations. The implementing Regulations

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are the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Transportable Pressure Equip-

ment Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No. 568). Equivalent Regulations apply to

rail transport.

Note that prior to transportation, the waste has to be classified in accordance

with ADR. This is a separate procedure from classification under the Hazardous

Waste Regulations and will result in the assignment of one of nine classes (eg

Class 3: Flammable liquid or Class 6.2: Infectious substance). The class under

ADR may not reflect the hazardous property identified under the Hazardous

Waste Regulations (see Chapter 3, Hazardous waste for an explanation of the

14 hazardous properties). For example, a hazardous waste is found to possess

hazard ‘H7: Carcinogen category 3’ but under ADR might be classified as ‘Class

3: Flammable liquid’.

There is a Class 9 which covers environmentally hazardous substances such as

asbestos and PCBs, but waste should only be assigned to this Class if there is

no more appropriate classification.

Animal by-products

The EU Animal By-products Regulation 1774/2002/EC now applies in the

UK, and has been implemented by national regulations for England, Scotland

and Wales. The relevant English SI is the Animal By-products Regulations

2005 (SI 2005 No. 2347).

Most of the provisions apply to farmers and those who operate abattoirs,

rendering plant or food processing plant. However, some of the new require-

ments impact on anyone who disposes with waste food of animal origin (meat

and fish products, both cooked and uncooked). Examples include canteen waste

from factories, out of date sausages from the supermarket shelves and leftover

meat pies from bakeries.

The EU Regulation bans the landfilling of animal by-products: in the UK, this

ban applies to raw meat and fish but not to cooked catering waste. This means

that waste containing animal by-products must be segregated from the normal

commercial waste stream. Retailers are advised to give away meat products

nearing their ‘use by’ date to avoid the need for separate disposal. The legisla-

tion is enforced by local authorities who are not making it a priority at present.

Another effect of the EU regulation has been to increase the scope for recovery

of low-risk animal by-products such as catering waste. They may be composted

in biogas or composting plant provided the conditions of the regulation are met.

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Contaminated land

The contaminated land regime was introduced in 2000 and its provisions are

found in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The aim of the

regime is for badly contaminated sites to be identified by the local authority

and remediated (cleaned up to an appropriate standard) at the polluters’ expense.

Most of the responsibility for administering this regime falls to local authori-

ties, but the Environment Agency takes on the most severely polluted sites

(‘special sites’).

There is an overlap between contaminated land and waste management

licensing, in that when contaminated soil is excavated during remediation it is

classed as waste, and generally qualifies as hazardous waste. This means that

if a ‘dig and dump’ solution is chosen, the waste must go to hazardous landfill;

if in situ treatment is the chosen remedy, then the treatment plant will require

a waste management licence. Unfortunately the licensing regime was set up with

landfill sites in mind, and is not really suited to short term remediation projects.

Projects have been delayed due to the difficulty and complexity of obtaining

licences, and it is not always easy for remediation projects to meet the condi-

tions for licence surrender.

The Government has tried to help the remediation industry by providing for

‘mobile plant licences’. However, the industry would prefer a separate remedi-

ation permit tailored specifically to contaminated land. In November 2005 the

Environment Agency issued proposals for a new mobile treatment licensing (MTL)

scheme. The new approach would allow operators to hold a single licence autho-

rising several pieces of mobile plant. Operators would have to submit a

‘deployment form’ for each separate site. It is hoped that this new system will

save operators both time and money, without compromising environmental

protection. The consultation document is available on the Environment Agency

website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/yourenv/consultations.

Since the introduction of the co-disposal ban (see Chapter 4, Landfill regula-

tions and their impact) there are very few landfill sites which can accept

contaminated soil. Treatment capacity will have to expand in the future. One

practical solution is the development of ‘soil treatment hubs’ serving a large

number of regeneration projects. Two major waste companies have already

formed partnerships with remediation businesses so that they can offer soil treat-

ment at their landfill sites. A recent report indicates that a centralized hub offering

soil washing and bioremediation could be more cost-effective than landfill.

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Planning

Local authorities, in their role as planners, must ensure that suitable provision

is made for waste management in their area. Whereas in the past they may have

taken a ‘predict and provide’ approach, they are now expected to use the planning

regime to promote sustainable waste management, normally understood as

moving as much waste as possible up the hierarchy. All are being forced by the

Landfill Directive to divert municipal waste from landfill. New planning

guidance was issued as Planning Policy Statement 10 in July 2005. See Chapter

1, Policy framework and Chapter 6, Local authorities and municipal waste for

further details.

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Chapter 3Hazardous waste

Introduction..........................................................................................25

Hazardous waste arisings...................................................................26

What is hazardous waste? ..................................................................27

Duties under the hazardous waste regulations................................38

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

Page 34: Waste Management

Chapter 3Hazardous waste

Introduction

The EU definition of hazardous waste now applies in the UK, having replaced

the term ‘special waste’. About 180 waste streams previously regarded as non-

special qualify as hazardous, with the implication that many companies have

become hazardous waste producers for the first time.

This chapter summarizes the procedure for assessing hazardous waste,

indicating where specialist assistance may be required. In some cases, it is possible

to determine whether a waste is hazardous merely by referring to a detailed

list. However, for many waste streams, the producer must carry out testing and

analysis to determine whether threshold concentrations of dangerous substances

have been exceeded.

Hazardous waste producers are confronted with new duties and challenges. They

must:

• notify the Environment Agency

• follow the new consignment procedure with its attendant paperwork

• avoid mixing any hazardous waste stream with non-hazardous waste,

or with another hazardous waste type

• segregate hazardous waste streams under certain circumstances

• ensure that if the waste is to be landfilled, it is consigned to a hazardous

landfill and meets the Waste Acceptance Criteria for hazardous

waste (see Chapter 4 for a detailed explanation).

The introduction of the co-disposal ban in 2004 (see Chapter 4 for details) has

brought about a dramatic fall in landfill capacity for hazardous wastes.

Producers are now forced to consider alternative treatment and disposal options.

Many have taken the practical and cost-effective step of re-examining and segre-

gating their wastes to ensure that only the truly hazardous wastes are consigned

to hazardous landfill.

Issues relating specifically to the landfilling of hazardous waste are considered

in more detail in Chapter 4, Landfill regulations and their impact.

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Hazardous waste arisings

The table and pie chart below show the tonnages of special waste arising in the

UK during 2002 by EWC code and the main treatment and disposal options

employed. The figures are taken from the Hazardous Waste Forum Final Draft

Status Report, available at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/hazforum/

pfd/tctf-statusreport.pdf. Note that the figures are based on the old definition

of ‘special waste’ so would not include the newly hazardous wastes discussed

below. EWC codes refer to the chapters in the European Waste Catalogue, also

discussed below.

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26THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

EWC Industry/waste type 2002 Special wastecode arisings (tonnes)

01 Minerals 110,720

02 Agriculture etc, food processing 4,170

03 Wood, pulp, paper, cardboard 2,790

04 Leather, fur and textiles 3,660

05 Petroleum, natural gas, pyrolytic treatment of coal 88,460

06 Inorganic chemicals 231,110

07 Organic chemicals 531,970

08 Coatings, adhesives, sealants, printing inks 90,360

09 Photographic 35,170

10 Thermal processes 171,560

11 Chemical surface treatment of metals etc 114,750

12 Physical surface treatment of metals and plastics 90,370

13 Oil wastes, wastes from liquid fuels 964,270

14 Organic solvents, refrigerants, propellants 57,750

15 Packaging, cloths, filter materials, protective clothing 44,490

16 Waste not otherwise specified 672,050

17 Construction and demolition wastes 1,255,970

18 Human and animal healthcare 18,880

19 Waste management, water treatment 343,830

20 Municipal wastes 92,520

99 Wastes not otherwise specified, not listed in chapter 16 69,850

Total 4,994,700

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Figure 1: Treatment/disposal routes for special waste in the UK in 2002

This pattern is already changing as the impact of the Landfill Directive is felt

(see Chapter 4).

What is hazardous waste?

Legislation

The definition of hazardous waste derives from the EU Hazardous Waste Direc-

tive 91/689/EEC. This has been implemented in Great Britain by the:

• Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005

No. 895)

• List of Wastes (England) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No 894)

• Hazardous Waste (Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 1806)

• List of Wastes (Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 1820)

• Special Waste (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004

No. 112), as amended by SSI 2004 No. 204.

For convenience, this body of legislation is referred to in this chapter as ‘the

Hazardous Waste Regulations’.

Incineration 5%

Treatment 32%

Landfill 42%

Recycling/reuse 21%

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The Environment Agency has produced comprehensive guidance on the assess-

ment of hazardous waste in its manual WM2 Hazardous Waste: Interpretation

of the Definition and Classification of Hazardous Waste which is required

reading for anyone directly involved with the classification procedure. This is

available on the Environment Agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.

Assessment procedure

The flow chart below, which is based on the Environment Agency guidance,

summarizes the procedure for determining whether any particular waste is

hazardous. This section of the chapter goes through the flow chart step-by-step.

Figure 2: Environment Agency methodology for

classification of hazardous waste

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STEP 1: IS THE WASTE SUBJECT TO THE LEGISLATION?

Some wastes may possess hazardous properties but because they are not

‘controlled wastes’ (see Chapter 2) are not covered by the Hazardous Waste

Regulations. The main categories are:

• radioactive wastes which do not possess any other hazard – separate

legislation applies

• trade effluent and gaseous emissions – regulated under PPC as pollu-

tants rather than waste

• domestic wastes from private households, with the exception of

asbestos.

Agricultural, mining and quarrying wastes were excluded at the time of

writing this report, but some will be reclassified as controlled wastes in the near

future.

Note that contaminated soil excavated during brownfield remediation projects

does fall within the definition of hazardous waste.

STEP 2: HOW IS THE WASTE CATEGORIZED IN THE EUROPEAN WASTE CATALOGUE?

The European Waste Catalogue (EWC) is a list of waste streams, divided into

20 chapters. It can be found in the List of Wastes Regulations and also in WM2.

The list is drawn up at EU level and periodically updated.

Each individual waste stream is identified by a six digit code. The entries cover

both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, with hazardous wastes identified

by an asterisk. The waste producer must find the most appropriate entry for

each waste stream, using the following procedure.

Look for an appropriate entry in Chapters 1-12 and 17-20, which relate to the

following industries and activities:

1. mineral exploitation

2. agricultural and food production

3. wood, pulp, paper and cardboard

4. leather, fur and textiles

5. petroleum refining, gas purification and coal pyrolysis

6. inorganic chemicals

7. organic chemicals

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8. coatings, adhesives and sealing inks

9. photographic

10. thermal processes (power stations, iron and steel, metallurgy)

11. chemical surface treatment of metals etc; non-ferrous hydro-metallurgy

12. shaping and physical and mechanical surface treatment of metals and

plastics

17. construction and demolition

18. human and animal health care and related research

19. waste management and water treatment facilities

20. municipal wastes.

If no suitable entry can be found, look in Chapters 13-15:

13. oil wastes

14. waste organic solvents, refrigerants and propellants

15. waste packaging, cloths, filter material and protective clothing.

If these chapters do not yield an appropriate entry, look in Chapter 16, ‘wastes

not otherwise specified in the list’.

The option of last resort is the series of ’99 entries’ at the end of the industry-

specific chapters, eg 20 03 99 ‘municipal wastes not otherwise specified’.

IS THE WASTE AN ABSOLUTE OR MIRROR ENTRY?

For many waste streams there is only one appropriate entry. If this is not marked

with an asterisk, the waste is definitely not hazardous (eg 15 01 02 plastic

packaging). If it is marked with an asterisk, the waste is definitely hazardous (eg

16 09 03* peroxides, for example, hydrogen peroxide). A single entry with an

asterisk is known as an absolute entry. The EA guidance also has a letter ‘A’ for

‘absolute’ or ‘M’ for ‘mirror’ alongside the entries in the list.

The difficulty comes with mirror entries: paired entries, where one is hazardous

and the other is not. For example

08 01 13* sludges from paint or varnish containing organic solvents or other

dangerous substances

08 01 14 sludges from paint or varnish other than those mentioned in 08

01 13.

The hazardous entries are referred to as ‘containing dangerous substances’.

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As long ago as the sixteenth century, it was recognized in medicine that “All

substances are poisons; there is none that is not a poison. The right dose differ-

entiates a poison from a remedy” (Paracelsus). In classifying waste, it is important

to understand:

• what is meant by a ‘dangerous substance’, and

• how concentrated does the dangerous substance have to be for the

waste to qualify as hazardous?

STEP 3: DETERMINE THE COMPOSITION OF THE WASTE

This classification procedure depends on a knowledge of the chemical compo-

sition of the waste. In some cases, for example where the waste is a single

substance or an off-specification product, data on the composition will be readily

available (for example, from the safety data sheet). In other cases laboratory testing

will be required. Ideally, the analytical technique should be one that indicates

the main compounds present in the waste and their individual concentrations,

not merely their constituent elements (eg ‘total mercury’). Appendix B of WM2

gives helpful guidance on the kinds of dangerous substances likely to be present

in different waste streams.

STEP 4: DOES THE WASTE CONTAIN DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES?

The definition of dangerous substances is derived from European chemical safety

legislation (implemented in the UK as the Chemicals (Hazard Information and

Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No. 1689) (CHIP). Approx-

imately 2000 of the most commonly used hazardous chemicals are classified and

assigned an entry in a register known as the Approved Supply List (ASL), avail-

able in paper or electronic form from the Health and Safety Executive. If a chemical

is listed on the ASL, it is definitely a ‘dangerous substance’.

Each chemical on the ASL is assigned one or more of the following categories

of danger:

• explosive

• oxidising

• extremely flammable

• highly flammable

• very toxic

• toxic

• carcinogen (category 1, 2 or 3)

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• mutagenic (category 1, 2 or 3)

• toxic for reproduction (category 1, 2 or 3)

• corrosive

• irritant

• dangerous for the environment

• [sensitising] (not relevant to waste).

In addition, the chemical is assigned numbered risk phrases which spell out

in more detail the nature of the risk, for example R36 irritating to the skin; R50

very toxic to aquatic organisms. Together, the categories of danger and risk phrases

form the classification. For example, hydrogen peroxide is classified as:

O: R8 (oxidising: contact with combustible material may cause fire)

C: R34 (corrosive: causes burns).

It is not possible for the ASL to list every known hazardous substance: institu-

tions whose activities produce less common substances (for example, research

laboratories) should refer to the testing and classification procedures which

accompany the CHIP Regulations. This will enable them to determine whether

the substance is dangerous and, if so, to assign a category of danger and risk

phrases. The services of a specialist analytical laboratory would be required.

Chemical databases, some available free over the internet, may also be of help:

WM2 lists some helpful sources.

STEP 5: DOES THE WASTE POSSESS ANY HAZARDOUS PROPERTIES?

A waste stream may contain one or more dangerous substances without neces-

sarily being hazardous. For example, very low levels of known carcinogens such

as PCBs and dioxins are present throughout the environment. It is the role of

legislators to set threshold concentrations above which these chemicals are

deemed to be hazardous to health.

Confusingly for the waste producer, the thresholds differ according to the regula-

tory regime under consideration. A particular waste chemical may end up being

classified as ‘highly flammable’ for transport by road but ‘carcinogenic’ under

the CHIP Regulations. The Hazardous Waste Regulations contain thresholds taken

directly from the Hazardous Waste Directive: these differ from the thresholds

in the ASL, which are not relevant to waste.

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Even more confusingly, the Hazardous Waste Regulations are based around a

list of 14 hazardous properties which look similar to the CHIP categories of danger,

but contain significant differences. These are set out below.

• H1 Explosive

• H2 Oxidising

• H3 Highly flammable

• H4 Irritant

• H5 Harmful

• H6 Very toxic, Toxic

• H7 Carcinogenic

• H8 Corrosive

• H9 Infectious

• H10 Toxic for reproduction

• H11 Mutagenic

• H12 Releases toxic gas in contact with water or air

• H13 After disposal, wastes produce a leachate with any of the other

hazardous properties

• H14 Ecotoxic (toxic for the environment)

Note that:

• there is only one flammability hazard

• hazards H9 and H13 do not have an equivalent in CHIP.

At this stage of the classification procedure, the assessor is looking at the waste

stream as a whole rather than the component chemicals. To determine whether

the waste possesses one of the 14 hazardous properties, the concentration of

each dangerous substance in the waste is compared with the thresholds set out

in the table below. Some of the thresholds are taken from the Regulations and

others (for example, the ecotoxic thresholds) from WM2.

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CODE HAZARDOUS PROPERTY THRESHOLD (% by weight)

H1 Explosive Testing required

H2 Oxidising Depends on the substance – seeEA guidance

H3 Highly flammable Liquids: Flashpoint ≥55˚CSolids: Testing required, orcalculation from guidance

H4 Irritant, R41 ≥10%

H4 Irritant, R36,R37, R38 ≥20%

H5 Harmful ≥25%

H6 Very toxic ≥0.1%

H6 Toxic ≥3%

H7 Carcinogen category 1, 2 ≥0.1%

H7 Carcinogen category 3 ≥1%

H8 Corrosive, R35 ≥1%

H8 Corrosive, R34 ≥5%

H9 Infectious N/a: see WM2

H10 Toxic for reproduction, R60, R61, category 1 or 2 ≥0.5%

H10 Toxic for reproduction, R62, R63, category 3 ≥5%

H11 Mutagenic, R46, category 1 or 2 ≥0.1%

H11 Mutagenic, R68, category 3 ≥1%

H12 Releases toxic gas in contact with water or air Testing required

H13 After disposal, wastes produce another substance, Depends on substances eg a leachate, possessing any of the other hazardous produced – see WM2properties

H14 Ecotoxic, R50 or R52 or R53 25%

H14 Ecotoxic, R50 and R51 and R52 and R53 0.25%

H14 Ecotoxic, R51 and R52 and R53 2.5%

H14 Ecotoxic, R54 or R55 or R56 or R57 or R58 Thresholds not yet set, so nothazardous waste

H14 Ecotoxic, R59 0.1%

H14 PCBs and PCTs 0.005%

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Risk phrases in the table above

R34 Causes burns

R35 Causes severe burns

R36 Irritating to the eyes

R37 Irritating to the respiratory system

R38 Irritating to the skin

R41 Risk of serious damage to eyes

R46 May cause heritable genetic damage

R50 Very toxic to aquatic organisms

R51 Toxic to aquatic organisms

R52 Harmful to aquatic organisms

R53 May cause long-term effects in the aquatic environment

R54 Toxic to flora

R55 Toxic to fauna

R56 Toxic to soil organisms

R57 Toxic to bees

R58 May cause long-term adverse effects in the environment

R59 Dangerous for the ozone layer

R60 May impair fertility

R61 May cause harm to the unborn child.

R62 Possible risk of impaired fertility

R63 Possible risk of harm to the unborn child

R68 Possible risk of irreversible effects

Note that thresholds are not appropriate for all the hazardous properties. Wastes

suspected of being explosive, flammable or oxidising should be tested (eg using

a flashpoint test for flammability). Infectious wastes are deemed to be those which

require segregation and separate collection due to their infectious hazard: H9

does not cover everyday ‘clinical wastes’ such as nappies.

In some cases, the waste will contain more than one dangerous substance with

the same classification (for example, a mixture of acids which are classed under

CHIP as corrosive:R35). Should the concentrations be added up if none of the

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individual acids exceed the threshold? In this case, yes: ‘very toxic’ ‘toxic’, ‘harmful’,

‘corrosive’ and ‘irritant’ are all additive properties. However, other properties

– ‘carcinogenic’, ‘mutagenic’ and ‘toxic for reproduction’ – are non-additive.

Further guidance is given in WM2. The rules for additive and non-additive proper-

ties differ from those in CHIP.

The Agency recognizes that circumstances will arise where it is not possible to

obtain a detailed analysis of the waste. In such cases, the waste producer should

attempt to test samples of the waste for hazardous properties or, if all else fails,

use their experience and judgement to assess whether the waste possesses one

of the 14 hazardous properties. Testing on animals should be avoided. However,

the Agency warns that “it is not expected that a waste holder will assume an

unknown waste is hazardous (or not) without rudimentary testing of the compo-

nents of the waste, or ascertaining the nature of the waste from informal sources”.

EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES

DEFRA retains the right to classify a waste as hazardous if it possesses one of

the 14 properties, even if it is not listed as hazardous on the EWC. Conversely,

a waste marked with an asterisk can be reclassified as non-hazardous by DEFRA

if they consider it does not possess one of the 14 properties.

In conclusion, the assessment procedure for ‘mirror entry’ wastes can be

complex, requiring chemical knowledge and laboratory facilities. Smaller waste

producers without these resources should consult their waste contractor or

consultant. Additional testing will be required if the hazardous wastes are

destined for landfill (see Waste acceptance criteria in Chapter 4). All in all, costs

for waste producers will rise as they either develop in house testing facilities

or pay for outside expertise.

Newly hazardous wastes

About 180 waste streams are newly hazardous. These include everyday items

such as discarded televisions and computer monitors, fluorescent tubes, pesti-

cides and end-of-life vehicles. Almost every business produces some of these

wastes and will therefore have to comply with the Hazardous Waste Regula-

tions. While larger companies have taken steps to prepare for the new

requirements, many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) remain in the

dark. An Environment Agency study carried out in June 2005 found that 28%

of SMEs questioned were unaware of the new regulations.

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37THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

DEFRA predicts that over the next year, hazardous waste arisings in England

and Wales will increase from 5.08 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes. Waste

producers need to examine their wastes against the new criteria, particularly

checking whether:

• a waste previously regarded as non-special is marked as an absolute

entry in the EWC (for example, fluorescent tubes)

• a non-special waste known to contain dangerous substances in low

concentrations is ‘caught’ by the new hazard categories. Hazards H10

and H11, for example, were often ignored under the Special Waste

Regulations.

The Environment Agency is allowing facilities which deal with newly hazardous

waste from households to continue storing, treating and disposing of them under

their existing permit until 16 July 2006. After that, items such as fluorescent tubes

will have to go to facilities which are permitted to take hazardous waste. (Indus-

trial waste is already expected to comply with the regulations.) Producers of these

wastes are already required to notify the Agency and follow the new consign-

ment note procedure (see below).

WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT

Several of the newly hazardous wastes fall into the category of waste electrical

and electronic equipment (WEEE), in particular televisions, monitors and fluores-

cent tubes. Not only must these be consigned as hazardous waste, they will also

have to be managed in compliance with the new WEEE Regulations, due to come

into force in June 2006. (See Chapter 5, Producer responsibility for further details.)

There is a particular problem with recovering and disposing of cathode ray tubes

(CRTs) from televisions and computer monitors. These are subject to challenging

recycling targets under the WEEE Directive and also qualify as hazardous waste

due to the phosphor and lead they contain. It is difficult to find markets for recov-

ered CRT glass due to its hazardous nature, especially since June 2005 when

the UK’s only CRT manufacture, Nippon Electric Glass, stopped taking the recov-

ered glass. The market for CRTs in Western Europe has declined as consumers

turn to flat screen TVs. CRTs are still manufactured in countries such as China

but companies there are prevented from importing hazardous waste under the

international waste shipments legislation. Perhaps the glass could still be landfilled,

but as yet it is uncertain whether it will meet the Waste Acceptance Criteria for

hazardous landfill (see Chapter 4).

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Duties under the hazardous waste regulations

Notification

As of 16 July 2005, producers of hazardous waste have a new duty to notify the

Environment Agency each year. This applies to all industrial hazardous waste

producers, however small the quantity of waste produced. For commercial waste

producers, including shops, offices, dental, medical, veterinary and agricultural

premises, there is a threshold of 200kg per annum of hazardous waste below

which they do not have to notify the Agency.

Waste carriers can be fined £300 if they take hazardous waste away from premises

which are not notified or exempt. Failure to notify is also an offence punishable

by a £300 fine.

The registration process is relatively straightforward, the details required being:

• name and address of waste producer

• address of premises

• SIC classification of premises

• any other information the Agency may reasonably require.

It is the individual premises which must be notified – so companies with several

sites will have to notify each one. However, this does not extend to site huts and

similar temporary addresses.

The Agency prefers to be notified electronically via their website www.environ-

ment-agency.gov.uk/newrulesonwaste.

Alternatively, hazardous waste producers can call the Agency on 08708 502858.

Registrations will not be received by local Agency offices. Those wishing to notify

by post should send in a disk or form to the Customer Contact Centre in

Rotherham. Detailed guidance can be found in the Agency’s notification guide,

available at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/sitepremise_

regguide_1027669.

The notification must be accompanied by a fee, which varies according to the

method of notification (cheapest using the website). The Agency will then issue

a premises code.

As of July 2005, large numbers of waste producers had still not notified the Agency

– due in part to teething troubles with the Agency’s electronic system.

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Consignment procedure

The Hazardous Waste Regulations introduced a new procedure for the consign-

ment of hazardous waste, which differs in several respects from the old special

waste procedure. The Regulations give details of the paperwork required. In

summary, the consignment note is a multi-copy form which is used to track the

consignment from cradle to grave. Different parts are filled in by the

consignor/waste producer, carrier(s) and consignee (waste management

contractor).

Points to note are:

• the waste producer no longer has to notify the Agency three days ahead

of a consignment

• there is a new system of multiple collections replacing the carrier’s round

• the producer must keep detailed records of each consignment,

indicating the:

– quantity

– nature

– origin

– destination

– frequency of collection

– carrier and mode of transport

– treatment method.

These records must be kept in a register for three years.

The waste contractor must send quarterly returns to the waste producer and

the Agency to show that each consignment has been properly dealt with. This

means that the producer and regulators may have to wait three months before

they receive confirmation of disposal: under the old system, they were notified

of each separate consignment. Waste producers who are concerned about their

waste have a legal right to request confirmation that the disposal or treatment

has been carried out: this request must be in writing, and the contractor then

has seven days to reply.

‘Paperwork offences’ relating to the consignment procedure are punishable by

a £300 fine.

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Mixing and separation of hazardous waste

The new Hazardous Waste Regulations introduce much greater restrictions on

the mixing of hazardous waste. While this was mentioned in the old regulations,

in practice much mixing was carried on, both by producers and contractors.

The wording of the Regulations prohibits the mixing of hazardous waste with

• a different category of hazardous waste

• non-hazardous waste

• any other substance or material.

However, the Agency can allow mixing by disposal or recovery operations as

a condition of their permit. This may be an essential part of the treatment: for

example, a neutralization process where acid and alkaline wastes are mixed.

Where hazardous wastes have been mixed in contravention of the Regulations,

the holder has a duty to separate them. However, this is qualified by a proviso

that the separation is ‘technically and economically feasible’ and necessary to

comply with the Waste Framework Directive. In other words, the Agency will

not require the holder to separate the wastes if the mixture does not present

any threat to the environment which separation would ameliorate. At present,

this duty only applies to those who transport, recover or dispose of hazardous

waste, but the Government has proposed to extend it to producers.

These provisions are not very specific and likely to be a source of concern to

industrial waste producers. What are the ‘categories’ of waste which must not

be mixed? The Environment Agency has told a leading contractor that it will

take these to be the categories in Annex 1A of Schedule 1 to the Hazardous Waste

Regulations, as listed below.

The Environment Agency has recently issued guidance on the mixing and segre-

gation of hazardous waste, listing several waste types which can be mixed without

breaking the law (available on the Agency’s website). For example, it is accept-

able to mix hazardous and non-hazardous oil/water mixtures. They will focus

enforcement efforts on those producers who deliberately dilute hazardous waste

in order to avoid regulation.

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ADVANTAGES OF WASTE SEGREGATION

While in the short term the duty to segregate hazardous wastes is likely to create

extra work and expenditure, there are good environmental and financial

reasons for doing it. Many companies are already re-examining and segregating

their wastes to ensure that only those which are truly hazardous are consigned

as such. (In the past, there was much precautionary consignment of mixed loads.)

As a consequence of the co-disposal ban, there is likely to be a shortage of capacity

for hazardous waste disposal and treatment in the short term (see Chapter 4) –

a major incentive to reduce hazardous waste arisings. At the same time, the cost

of hazardous waste landfill is rising sharply. If wastes are segregated it is easier

to recycle and recover those with economic value. It also enables better charac-

terization of each waste stream, and may help in identifying opportunities for

ANNEX 1A OF SCH.1 TO THE HAZARDOUS WASTE REGULATIONS

• Anatomical substances; hospital and other clinical waste

• Pharmaceuticals, medicines and veterinary compounds

• Wood preservatives

• Biocides and phyto-pharmaceutical substances

• Residue from substances employed as solvents

• Halogenated organic substances not employed as solvents excluding inert polymer-ized materials

• Tempering salts containing cyanides

• Mineral oils and oily substances (eg cutting sludges, etc)

• Oil/water, hydrocarbon/water mixtures, emulsions

• Substances containing PCBs and/or PCTs

• Tarry materials arising from refining, distillation and any pyrolytic treatment (eg stillbottoms)

• Inks, dyes, pigments, paints, lacquers, varnishes

• Resins, latex, plasticizers, glues/adhesives

• Chemical substances arising from research and development or teaching activities whichare not identified and/or are new and whose effects on man and/or the environmentare not known (eg laboratory residues)

• Pyrotechnics and other explosive materials

• Photographic chemicals and processing materials

• Any material contaminated with any congener of polychlorinated dibenzofuran

• Any material contaminated with any congener of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin.

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waste reduction. Finally, the segregation of hazardous wastes is an important

safety measure. The mixing of incompatible wastes has long been a common cause

of explosions, fires and accidents at waste facilities.

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Chapter 4Landfill regulations and their impact

Introduction..........................................................................................44

Overview of the landfill directive.......................................................45

The co-disposal ban and the ‘hazardous waste crisis’ ...................50

Waste acceptance criteria (WAC) ......................................................57

Technical details of the WAC .............................................................60

Characterization, testing and sampling (WAP)................................67

Conclusion............................................................................................71

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

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Chapter 4Landfill regulations and their impact

Introduction

The Landfill Directive has made a tremendous impact on the shape of waste

management in the UK, and will continue to do so over the next decade. It has

forced a wholesale shift away from landfill towards a range of other options.

Costs for waste producers have risen; some waste producers are finding that

there is nowhere for their wastes to go. The waste industry, relied upon by the

Government to meet the demand for new facilities, has been late in responding

to the challenge due to regulatory and market uncertainties but is now offering

an imaginative range of new services. Local authorities have been compelled

to expand their recycling operations at a rapid rate in order to meet stringent

targets for diverting waste from landfill.

Waste producers must take far greater responsibility for their wastes, particu-

larly where the wastes are hazardous. They have new duties to test, sample and

characterize waste streams, and arrange for treatment. The well informed have

been able to reduce hazardous waste generation and keep costs down; the

uninformed are paying the price or even breaking the law. The Agency and

Government, fearful of the looming hazardous waste mountains as landfills reject

non-compliant wastes, have resorted to bending the rules at the eleventh hour.

The implementation of the Landfill Directive has proved to be a dramatic saga

with dire warnings of crisis, strong words exchanged, blame cast, emergency

summits and forums convened – and also an element of anticlimax as the direst

predictions failed to come true.

Whether all this has brought about any appreciable environmental benefit remains

to be seen. Commenting on the failure to abide by the principle of subsidiarity

in drawing up this Directive, leading international waste lawyer and author

Richard Hawkins comments that. ‘Many may consider that the landfill option

would have been managed better by the Member States individually, since many

geological and geophysical characteristics are unique to specific countries. Instead,

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the principle of harmonized law was followed, and all the Member States were

subject to the same targets and requirements. The problem is that the individual

performance target dates were chosen without a clear rationale, let alone an

open and transparent cost-benefit analysis’. He also points out that the original

justification for the landfill diversion targets, ie the reduction of greenhouse gas

emissions, was a spurious aim due to the low proportion of methane emissions

arising from landfills and the availability of collection and control systems (The

Practical Guide to Waste Management Law, by RGP Hawkins and H S Shaw,

Thomas Telford, 2004).

Overview of the landfill directive

Directive 99/31/EC is concerned with three interrelated aspects of waste

management:

• the classification of landfill sites, and prescription of the precise types

of waste they can accept

• the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill

• engineering and environmental standards at landfill sites.

It is the first aspect which forms the focus of this chapter, as it has the most direct

impact on industrial and commercial waste producers.

The diversion of BMW from landfill is an issue of primary concern to local author-

ities, although of course it also has implications for the landfill operators, providers

of recovery and recycling services and the general public. The relevant statute

is the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2004 (not the Landfill Regulations).

This issue will be considered further in Chapter 6, Local authorities and munic-

ipal waste.

Engineering and regulation of landfill sites

ENGINEERING

The new technical requirements for landfill sites were implemented by the Landfill

(England and Wales) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No. 1559) and Scottish equiv-

alent SSI 2003 No. 208. They are set down in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. Issues

covered include:

• the requirement for a leachate collection and sealing system

• specifications for landfill liners (eg a 5m impermeable barrier for

hazardous waste sites)

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• collection, treatment and use of landfill gas

• monitoring procedures, eg to assess the composition and volume of

leachate, landfill gas, groundwater and surface water

• general measures to avoid nuisance eg fencing, keeping access roads

clean, dealing with noise, dust and vermin.

These engineering requirements have not had a major effect on the waste manage-

ment industry, as most of them were already good practice in the UK. The main

effect has probably been to close down old, badly engineered landfills which

were in any case nearing the end of their lives. In the case of hazardous landfills,

the cost of upgrading to the new engineering standards has put up gate fees.

There has been one unexpected problem in that the Directive requires inert

landfills to have a lining or geological barrier one metre thick. This would prevent

the use of inert waste in restoring quarries. The quarry industry is pressing the

Agency to consider whether a lining is really necessary to protect groundwater

– the Directive allows some flexibility where a risk assessment demonstrates that

there is no threat to the environment.

REGULATION

Landfill sites are regulated by the Environment Agency, either under the PPC

regime or the waste management licensing regime (see Chapter 2, Overview

of waste regulation). By 2008 all landfills will be regulated under PPC. Some of

the requirements of the Landfill Regulations are being introduced via the PPC

permitting procedure. Permit conditions cover the following issues:

• type and quantity of waste accepted

• operational requirements

• monitoring and control procedures

• financial provision to cover operational, closure and aftercare costs

• accident prevention

• energy efficiency (for the larger landfills)

• reporting to the Agency on waste accepted and results of monitoring.

The Landfill Regulations make specific reference to the fees charged by the site

operator. They must cover the costs of setting up and operating the landfill,

complying with the permit conditions, and ensuring that the landfill does not

present any threat to the environment after it has closed. As yet no operator

has been taken to court on this issue.

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Classification of landfill sites

The Regulations classify landfills into three types:

• sites for inert waste

• sites for non-hazardous waste

• sites for hazardous waste.

It is an offence to landfill waste in the wrong type of site. The effect of this was

to outlaw co-disposal, ie the landfilling of hazardous industrial waste mixed with

biodegradable non-hazardous waste. Hazardous waste must be landfilled at a

hazardous-only site. This co-disposal ban took effect in July 2004.

This, together with the introduction of the Waste Acceptance Criteria a year

later, is the aspect of the Directive which has had the greatest impact on waste

management in the UK and will be considered in detail later in this chapter.

Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) and Waste Acceptance Procedures (WAP)

It is not enough for a hazardous waste to be consigned to a hazardous landfill.

As from 16 July 2005, it will not be accepted unless it meets the waste accept-

ance criteria (WAC) for hazardous landfill. The WAC include leaching limits for

a variety of hazardous substances, as well as limits on parameters such as total

organic carbon, pH, strength and stability. The WAC are discussed in detail later

in this chapter.

The WAC impact chiefly on hazardous waste producers. There are no WAC for

non-hazardous wastes, but inert wastes must meet standards for organic content

and contamination.

In order to ensure that the WAC are complied with, the Regulations set down

various waste acceptance procedures (WAP). These relate to sampling, testing,

inspection and monitoring of wastes, as well as the characterization which must

be supplied by the waste producer. These issues are discussed in greater detail

later in this chapter.

Banned wastes

The Regulations ban various wastes from landfill. The ban applies to wastes which

are:

• liquid

• explosive

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• corrosive

• oxidising

• flammable or highly flammable

• chemicals whose effects on humans or the environment are unknown

• infectious

• whole tyres

• shredded tyres.

The bans are already in effect, although the bans on liquid wastes and tyres are

being phased in via the permitting process. Liquid wastes will be completely

banned from 30 October 2007 and shredded tyres from 16 July 2006.

Most of the substances were already excluded from landfill before the Regula-

tions came into force. However, the bans on liquids and tyres have created some

difficulties. Considerable volumes of liquid now require treatment, and the

removal of liquid from landfills slows down the degradation processes which

help to stabilize the waste. Large numbers of tyres must now be found an alter-

native disposal outlet: at this stage, using them as fuel in cement kilns and power

stations seems the most promising option, although there are also new oppor-

tunities for recycling. Industry has successfully raised the recovery rate for tyres

to an estimated 90% in 2005.

Treatment

Under the Regulations, all wastes destined for landfill must be pre-treated, unless

the treatment would not bring about any environmental benefit.

A wide range of treatments are deemed to be acceptable. They do not have to

be sophisticated chemical or biological processes. For example, at a major

hazardous waste landfill the acceptable treatment for paint tins is to empty and

crush them. Removing recyclables such as cans from the municipal waste stream

also qualifies as treatment: however, compaction alone does not. The general

guidelines on treatment are that it must:

a) be a thermal, chemical, biological or physical process (which includes

sorting)

b) change the characteristics of the waste in order to:

• reduce mass, or

• reduce the hazardous nature of the waste, or

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• facilitate handling, or

• enhance recovery.

A leading waste management company has given the following examples of

acceptable treatment.

For industrial waste:

• segregation at source, with some fraction not being landfilled

• sorting at a materials recycling facility

• incineration with landfill of residues.

For mixed construction and demolition waste:

• segregation of reusable bricks, slate, timber etc

For contaminated soil:

• stabilization

• soil washing

• biological treatment of organics

• incineration (thermal treatment).

With municipal waste, pre-treatment is already carried out as part of the local

authority’s strategy to reduce the landfilling of biodegradable waste. For example,

paper, glass and cans are collected separately for recycling in most local authority

areas.

Finding the right treatment process is more of a challenge when the waste must

be treated in order to meet the WAC. The waste management industry is seeking

to develop new treatment techniques in order to deal with industrial wastes that

are unable to comply, such as certain wastes from aluminium smelting. This is

discussed further below in the section on WAC.

If hazardous waste can be rendered stable and non-reactive through treatment

(eg solidification) it can be landfilled in a specialized cell at a non-hazardous waste

site. It is known as stabilised non-reactive hazardous waste or SNRHW.

Separate WAC apply to such wastes. The capacity for this kind of landfill is

increasing as waste companies are investing in new cells: for some wastes this

will be the solution to the shortage of hazardous waste landfill capacity.

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The co-disposal ban and the ‘hazardous waste crisis’

The co-disposal ban of 2004 brought waste into the media spotlight. The Agency

had threatened that a crisis was approaching: mountains of hazardous waste

would build up; industrial waste would be fly-tipped across the countryside and

law abiding companies would have to keep their waste on site as there would

be no disposal facilities to receive it.

The warnings certainly seemed to be founded on fact. At a stroke, the co-disposal

ban reduced the number of landfills accepting hazardous waste from around

200 to 12. Most of these landfills were in the north east, with none in Scotland,

Wales or the south of England. The Government’s Hazardous Waste Forum

estimated that over a million tonnes of hazardous waste would have nowhere

to go.

Altogether, the total capacity (permitted and pending) is 4,444 tonnes per annum.

Total hazardous waste landfilled in 2003 was 1,798,673 tonnes.

(Figures supplied by Biffa and Enviros to ENDS conference on hazardous waste,

Haymarket Conferences, July 2005.)

A year on from the ban, the crisis has failed to materialize. While there have

been some incidences of fly-tipping, the scale has been nowhere near what was

predicted. The new Port Clarence hazardous waste landfill in the north east,

operated by Augean, had to revise its profit estimates downward due to the lack

of customers. Still, concerns remain and it is not certain what the long term trends

will be.

Number of hazardous landfills permitted as at June 2005:

12 dedicated hazardous sites operational

4 hazardous sites pending

19 non-hazardous sites taking asbestos only in separate cells

6 non-hazardous sites taking a range of SNRHW.

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Missing waste?

In evidence to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Committee, Alan Potter of the environmental consultancy Beyond Waste

estimated that 700,000 tonnes of hazardous waste would ‘go missing’ –

probably to non-hazardous landfill sites. The Committee recommended that the

Government should investigate this claim (House of Commons Environment,

Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fourth Report of session 2004-2005, March

2005, available at www.parliament.uk/efracom.). While the official response was

scornful of Mr Potter’s estimates, the Government and Agency have still not

succeeded in explaining where all the hazardous waste has gone.

There is no doubt that arisings of contaminated soil from brownfield remedia-

tion have dropped dramatically since the ban. Contractors did their best to get

as much soil as possible into landfill before the co-disposal ban took effect, leading

to a marked peak in landfilling during the early part of 2004 (see Figure 3).

However, this factor was scaled in to Mr Potter’s calculation.

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Figure 3: Hazardous Waste GenerationChart prepared from Hazardous Waste Forum statistics by Jonathan Davies of Enviros and

presented at ENDS/Haymarket conference on hazardous waste, July 2005.

The leading environmental journal ENDS Report carried out a survey of (larger)

industrial waste producers and environmental consultants. The interesting

findings are summarized in the bar charts over.

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RESULTS OF ENDS SURVEY OF HAZARDOUS WASTE PRODUCERS AND CONSULTANTS

Figure 4a: Explanations of current trends in landfilling of hazardous waste

Figure 4b: ‘Do you anticipate problems in finding sufficient

landfill/treatment capacity after 16 July 2005?’

Source: Paper presented by Julian Rose of ENDS at the ENDS/Haymarket conference on hazardous waste, July 2005

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CASE STUDY: NOVELIS

This aluminium reprocessing company based near Warrington has three main waste streams:

aluminium dross (which has been recovered for a long time)

air pollution control (APC) residues from shredding scrap

APC residues from treating acid gases.

The 1300 tonnes of APC residues had all gone to landfill, but this would have been too costlyunder the new regime. Novelis was able to separate out the 300 tonnes of residues fromshredding scrap and send them to non-hazardous landfill. The waste from treating acidgases was reduced by 25% through calculating the lime requirements more accurately.The remaining APC residues, which could not meet the WAC, have been sent for recoveryand reuse in the construction industry.

Source: ENDS Report July 2005.

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However, when it comes to SMEs the picture is probably less rosy. During the

ENDS hazardous waste conference, the manager of a small manufacturing

company recounted how he could not afford to send his small number of asbestos

tiles to hazardous landfill. He boldly commented that “I’d say 70% of compa-

nies on this industrial estate are packing up such waste at the end of the day

and dropping it over a hedgerow somewhere. It’s too costly for them to deal

with it any other way”. (He later clarified that there was no evidence that his

neighbours were actually doing this!)

While the consultants questioned suspected that around 70% of the ‘missing

waste’ had been misconsigned as non-hazardous, the waste producers took

credit for better waste segregation and waste reduction. This is the explana-

tion favoured by the Government and Agency, who take the ‘missing waste’

as evidence that the co-disposal ban has had the desired effect of reducing

hazardous waste generation.

Case studies from different industry sectors do bear out the claim that waste

producers are finding alternative options for their waste, such as new recovery

methods or disposal abroad. (See case study below.)

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Costs to industry

There is no doubt that the cost of hazardous waste disposal has risen as a result

of the co-disposal ban and WAC. Several respondents to the ENDS survey

estimated that their spending on waste would rise by at least 50% – the average

predicted rise in spending was 34%. The main element of the cost increase is

the greater transport costs as waste must be taken longer distances to one of

the few available sites. Corus reported that the costs of hazardous waste disposal

have more than doubled to £180 per tonne: they are now sending waste to

Germany for recovery. Augean Waste, the operators of the new hazardous waste

landfill on Teesside (Port Clarence) estimate that the costs of hazardous waste

landfill have trebled since the ban: not because of the demand for capacity, but

because of the new engineering requirements.

Future shortage of capacity

The ENDS survey reveals continued concern over the future availability of disposal

and treatment capacity for hazardous waste. Of the respondents, 43% predicted

that they would generate more hazardous waste in the year ahead, due mainly

to the ‘newly hazardous wastes’. While most had found landfill or treatment

capacity for their wastes in 2004-5, they feared that they would not be able to

in the following year. About a quarter had been able to reduce their hazardous

waste arisings since the ban but not all these felt they would be able to sustain

the trend.

The map below shows how hazardous waste arisings compare with estimated

landfill and SNRHW cell capacity in 2004-5, revealing the shortfalls in southern

England and Wales.

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Figure 5: Special waste arisings; landfill deposits 2002

Estimated landfill capacity July 2004-July 2005

Hazardous Waste Forum Treatment and Capacity Task Force. Final Draft Status Report 2004 available at :www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/wasteforum/pdf/tctf-statusreport.pdf

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Waste acceptance criteria (WAC)

The WAC comprise limit values for leachability of different contaminants, criteria

for strength and stability of waste plus limits for parameters such as total organic

carbon and pH. There are WAC for hazardous waste, inert waste, and stabi-

lized non-reactive hazardous waste (SNRHW). Allied with the WAC are the Waste

Acceptance Procedures (WAP) which set out a framework for sampling,

testing, monitoring and describing waste: duties for which both to the waste

producer and the contractor are responsible.

The detailed WAC and WAP as laid down in the Regulations are summarized

later in this chapter.

Delay in implementing WAC

The WAC have been a problematic and controversial aspect of the new landfill

regime. They should have been included in the 1993 Directive but were left out

as the necessary technical work had not been completed. This resulted in a great

deal of uncertainty, both for industry and regulators. Everyone knew that

hazardous wastes would only be allowed into landfill if they met certain criteria,

but no-one knew what those criteria were. The waste industry knew that additional

treatment capacity would be required, but were reluctant to invest in new facil-

ities as the precise standards of treatment were not known, and hence the market

could not be accurately predicted.

The Government and Agency were in a difficult position. If they made regula-

tions or set formal criteria ahead of the EU WAC being issued, they could be

accused of ‘gold plating’: however, by doing nothing they were contributing to

the delay in necessary investment. The Agency did issue some temporary criteria

but this was not viewed as satisfactory by the waste industry. Finally, the EU

WAC were issued in 2003 as Decision 2003/33/EC. UK Regulations implementing

the WAC appeared in 2004 and came into force – in an amended form – on 16

July 2005.

The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, in

its 2005 Report on Waste Policy and the Landfill Directive, was critical of the

Government’s handling of the situation. The MPs concluded that:

‘The “uncertainty” referred to by witnesses is attributable both to confusion

within the waste legislative framework itself, and a feeling that the

Government and its agencies have not done enough to explain how it will

work…. Uncertainty about the legislative and regulatory framework has

a significant effect on the development of long-term strategies for

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investment in the necessary treatment facilities by waste producers and

the waste industry…The Government must in future avoid, wherever

possible, agreeing to new European legislation without a full understanding

of the details of how such agreements will be interpreted and implemented

…the Government must engage with practitioners at the earliest possible

stage to ensure that such proposals are practicable, enforceable and capable

of implementation.’

Implications of the delay

The rushed way in which the WAC have been imposed has caused anxiety

amongst waste producers, particularly those in SMEs who are less well

informed about environmental legislation. Agency inspectors are being

bombarded with questions about what to do with oily rags. Some waste producers

are still ignorant of the new requirements: others are belatedly realising that

their wastes will not meet the WAC and do not know what action to take.

The ENDS survey referred to above revealed that, although there is optimism

about the future availability of hazardous waste landfill, there is likely to be a

serious shortfall in treatment capacity. At least two waste companies judge that

there is not enough treatment capacity for waste streams such as air pollution

control residues, oily rags, contaminated packaging, oily sludges, contaminated

soils, filter cakes and used protective equipment, many of which do not meet

the WAC because of their high organic content.

Taking the example of air pollution control residues, the existing treatment

capacity is sufficient for less than half of the current UK arisings of 150,000 tonnes.

The new underground Minosus storage facility in Cheshire (see below) could

possibly take 50,000 tonnes, leaving 20,000 without a disposal route. Perhaps

this could be stabilized and sent as SNRHW to a non-hazardous landfill, but

this is uncertain.

A consultant speaking to ENDS (Jonathan Davies of Enviros) commented that

the lack of reliable data on waste treatment means it is impossible to tell if there

is enough treatment capacity and whether there is time to construct it.

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Orphan wastes

Certain industrial wastes are too highly contaminated to meet the WAC even

if they are treated using the available technology. These wastes cannot legally

be accepted in hazardous landfill but have nowhere else to go. The Agency has

made a special exception for two wastes:

• spent pot linings from aluminium smelters, and

• furnace slag from lead acid battery recycling.

These wastes are allowed into landfill for the present, but the Agency has charged

the producers to investigate all possible alternatives, including process redesign

and recovery overseas, and draw up an action plan. The situation will be reviewed

every three months. There is a possibility that the aluminium waste could go to

a quarry on a remote Norwegian island, along with similar waste from other

EU countries. For the battery waste, a solution is not forthcoming: the company

states that the only option would be an investment in new furnace technology

costing over £10 million. By allowing these wastes into landfill, the Agency is

running the risk of infraction proceedings by the European Commission.

Around 50 further waste streams have been identified by industry as potential

orphan wastes, including the oily rags, filter cake etc referred to above. A repre-

sentative of Biffa, a major waste management company, speaking at the ENDS

conference gave an example of contaminated soil containing oil and asbestos.

The WAC prescribe that sites taking asbestos waste must take only asbestos,

and the asbestos waste must contain no other material. This means that the

contaminated soil cannot be landfilled.

Alternative options for orphan wastes

The waste industry is seeking to develop new treatment processes for some of

the difficult industrial wastes, but this will take time. Two alternatives already

available are high temperature incineration and disposal at the Minosus facility.

INCINERATION AND CO-INCINERATION

Biffa estimates that there is about 9000 tonnes of incineration capacity in the

UK. Co-incineration – the use of combustible waste as fuel in cement kilns, lime

kilns and power stations – is set to increase as the Agency grants permits to

more of these combustion processes. This is a particularly good disposal option

for tyres. While co-incineration is regarded with suspicion by the public, it does

have environmental benefits in that the wastes replace fossil fuels, hence

conserving resources.

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Merchant incineration capacity – where there is no energy recovery – is restricted

to two incinerators. This is a costly option and regarded as being at the bottom

of the waste hierarchy along with landfill (see Chapter 1). It is also regarded

(unjustifiably) as a polluting industry by the public, so planning permission is

difficult to obtain. Expansion is therefore unlikely in the near future.

Technical details of the WAC

Legislation

The detailed WAC can be found in the Landfill (England and Wales) (Amend-

ment) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No. 1375), as amended by the Landfill

(England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 1640).

The 2004 Regulations set the basic WAC for granular wastes and procedures

for characterization, sampling and testing. The 2005 Amendment Regulations

supply alternative criteria for monolithic wastes (ie blocks of stabilized material

intended for landfill in a SNRHW cell). Through the 2005 amendment, the Govern-

ment has allowed the relaxation of some criteria to three times over the limit,

if compatible wastes are landfilled together in a SNRHW cell and a risk assess-

ment shows there is no additional risk to the environment. The Regulations already

allowed for a relaxation of the criteria for wastes designated for mono-fill cells

and mono-landfills (eg in house facilities taking only one waste stream).

This section includes summary tables for the WAC to give a general idea of the

requirements. Waste producers should refer to the Regulations themselves for

full details.

CASE STUDY: MINOSUS

Minosus runs a vast underground storage facility in an old Cheshire salt mine which canstore up to 100,000 tonnes of hazardous waste a year. It is permitted to take 42 wastes anddoes not have to comply with the WAC leaching limits (although other criteria do apply,and it cannot take wastes which are flammable, reactive, volatile, radioactive orbiodegradable). The development was delayed due to planning objections – the applica-tion was eventually called in by the Secretary of State – but began accepting waste inAugust 2005.

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Leaching criteria and other WAC

INERT WASTE

The following inert wastes are acceptable at an inert landfill without testing

provided they come from a single waste stream and from a single source:

• glass and related materials

• concrete

• bricks, tiles and ceramics

• soil and stones.

(See Table 1 to the Regulations for more specific details.)

However, if there is any suspicion that the waste may be contaminated with

organic matter, or any other contaminants, it must be tested. The table below

gives WAC for inert wastes which are tested. L/S = liquid to solid ratio (see section

on test methods below).

LIMIT VALUES FOR LEACHING

Component L/S=10 l/kgmg/kg dry substance

Arsenic 0.5

Barium 20

Cadmium 0.04

Total chromium 0.5

Copper 2

Mercury 0.01

Molybdenum 0.5

Nickel 0.4

Lead 0.5

Antimony 0.06

Selenium 0.1

Zinc 4

Chloride 800

Fluoride 10

Sulphate 1000

Phenol index 1

Dissolved organic carbon 500

Total dissolved solids 4000

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LIMIT VALUES FOR ORGANIC CONTENT

Parameter Value (mg/kg)

Total organic carbon 30,000

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes 6

PCBs 1

Mineral oil 500

PAHs 100

The Environment Agency may allow a higher limit value in the case of soils,

provided the Dissolved Organic Carbon figure is acceptable.

NON-HAZARDOUS WASTE

Most non-hazardous waste does not require testing. However, there are

certain restrictions if it contains asbestos or gypsum.

Gypsum based waste and high sulphate bearing waste may only be disposed

of in cells where there is no biodegradable waste. Wastes landfilled with gypsum

based materials must meet the criteria for stable, non-reactive hazardous wastes

(see below).

Asbestos waste must not contain any other hazardous substances. It must be

disposed of in a separate, self contained cell, or in a landfill dedicated to asbestos.

(This restriction is likely to present difficulties to those disposing of contami-

nated soils where asbestos is mixed with other waste – see Orphan wastes above.)

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STABLE, NON-REACTIVE HAZARDOUS WASTE (SNRHW)

LEACHING CRITERIA (CAN BE APPLIED TO BOTH MONOLITHIC AND GRANULAR WASTES)

Component L/S=10 l/kg

mg/kg dry substance

Arsenic 2

Barium 100

Cadmium 1

Total chromium 10

Copper 50

Mercury 0.2

Molybdenum 10

Nickel 10

Lead 10

Antimony 0.7

Selenium 0.5

Zinc 50

Chloride 15,000

Fluoride 150

Sulphate 20,000

Dissolved organic carbon 800

Total dissolved solids 60,000

Granular wastes must have total organic carbon of 5% or less, and the pH must

be 6 or more. Acid neutralization capacity must be evaluated.

Cohesive waste must have a mean in situ shear strength of at least 50kPa. Non-

cohesive waste must have an in situ bearing ratio of at least 5%.

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ALTERNATIVE LEACHING CRITERIA FOR MONOLITHIC WASTES

Component Mg/m2

Arsenic 1.3

Barium 45

Cadmium 0.2

Total chromium 5

Copper 45

Mercury 0.1

Molybdenum 7

Nickel 6

Lead 6

Antimony 0.3

Selenium 0.4

Zinc 30

Chloride 10,000

Fluoride 60

Sulphate 10,000

Dissolved organic carbon Must be evaluated

The following parameters must also be evaluated for monolithic waste:

• pH of eluate

• electrical conductivity of eluate

• acid neutralization capacity of crushed monolith.

The waste must have a mean unconfined compressive strength of at least 1MPa

after 28 days’ curing. Also, it must have either

• dimensions of greater than 40cm along each side

• a depth and fracture spacing when hardened of greater than 40cm.

Prior to treatment, the waste must meet the following limit values:

• loss on ignition of 10%

• total organic carbon 6%.

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HAZARDOUS WASTE

LEACHING CRITERIA FOR GRANULAR HAZARDOUS WASTE

Component L/S=10 l/kg

mg/kg dry substance

Arsenic 25

Barium 300

Cadmium 5

Total chromium 70

Copper 100

Mercury 2

Molybdenum 30

Nickel 40

Lead 50

Antimony 5

Selenium 7

Zinc 200

Chloride 25,000

Fluoride 500

Sulphate 50,000

Dissolved organic carbon 1000

Total dissolved solids 100,000

It must also meet the following criteria:

• loss on ignition 10%

• total organic carbon 6%

and the acid neutralization capacity must be evaluated.

Cohesive waste must have a mean in situ shear strength of at least 50kPa. Non-

cohesive waste must have an in situ bearing ratio of at least 5%.

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ALTERNATIVE LEACHING CRITERIA FOR MONOLITHIC HAZARDOUS WASTE

Component Mg/m2

Arsenic 20

Barium 150

Cadmium 1

Total chromium 25

Copper 60

Mercury 0.4

Molybdenum 20

Nickel 15

Lead 20

Antimony 2.5

Selenium 5

Zinc 100

Chloride 20,000

Fluoride 200

Sulphate 20,000

Dissolved organic carbon Must be evaluated

The following parameters must also be evaluated:

• pH of eluate

• electrical conductivity of eluate

• acid neutralization capacity of crushed monolith.

It must meet the same criteria for strength, dimensions, loss on ignition and

total organic carbon as non-hazardous monolithic waste. Note that the criteria

for loss on ignition and total organic carbon apply to the untreated waste.

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Characterization, testing and sampling (WAP)

Waste producers who intend to consign their waste to landfill must provide the

landfill operator with the information required by the Regulations. A waste stream

will not be accepted for landfill until the waste producer has drawn up a basic

characterization. This ‘constitutes a thorough determination, according to

standardized analysis and behaviour testing methods, of short and long-term

leaching behaviour and/or characteristic properties of the waste’. The information

in this section is based on the Environment Agency’s official guidance on testing

and sampling, available on the Agency’s website (see references below).

The following information must be included:

• source/origin of the waste

• process producing the waste

• pre-treatment undergone

• composition, including an assessment of the waste against the limit

values for leaching and organic composition

• smell, colour, consistency, physical form and other aspects of appearance

• EWC code (see Chapter 3 on Hazardous waste for an explanation of

this)

• hazardous properties (if applicable)

• evidence to demonstrate that the waste is not banned from landfill (see

Banned wastes above)

• landfill class (hazardous, non-hazardous or inert) appropriate for the

waste

• likely behaviour of the waste in landfill

• precautions which need to be taken by the landfill operator

• whether the waste can be recovered or recycled.

The points in bold are those for which detailed sampling and testing will be

required, and which are considered further below.

While contractors will be able to help in providing this information, the onus

is on the hazardous waste producer. This is a significant new duty which will

create extra work and costs for industry.

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WASTES WHICH DO NOT REQUIRE TESTING

The testing requirements relate primarily to hazardous wastes destined for landfill.

Non-contaminated inert wastes, non-hazardous wastes and construction

wastes containing asbestos and destined for asbestos-only landfill do not require

testing.

Hierarchy of testing

Producers of potentially hazardous wastes need to arrange for two separate sets

of testing.

1. Testing to determine whether the waste is hazardous according to the

Hazardous Waste Regulations, and to find out which of the 14

hazardous properties it displays. (See Chapter 3 on Hazardous waste).

2. If the waste is hazardous, it must be tested for compliance with the

WAC. If it is not hazardous, further testing is not required and the waste

can go to non-hazardous landfill.

The WAP include a three stage hierarchy of testing:

1. Basic characterization (as described above): the responsibility of the

waste producer.

2. Regular compliance testing, to check whether subsequent loads of waste

conform with the basic characterization: carried out in partnership

between the producer and contractor.

3. The contractors’ brief inspection of individual loads as they arrive at

the site.

Primary and secondary waste producers

The Agency’s guidance on testing distinguishes between:

• primary producers – the industrialists whose processes create the waste,

and

• secondary producers – the operators of treatment plants or transfer

stations who take the waste from the primary producer and are then

responsible for consigning it to landfill.

(Large companies which treat their own waste are both primary and secondary

producers.)

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It is the treated waste which must comply with the WAC, so the secondary

producer is responsible for the detailed testing. The table below divides the

elements of the basic characterization between the two classes of producer.

The Environment Agency considers knowledge of the process to be the key to

success in drawing up the characterization: ‘given a sound understanding of

the process, it is relatively straightforward to decide what sampling needs to

be done. But without that knowledge, even a substantial amount of data is not

sufficient in itself to give full assurance that the waste has been assigned to the

correct class of landfill’.

Sampling

The 2005 Regulations made it a mandatory requirement to produce a sampling

plan. While sampling must be carried out using procedures and techniques laid

down in European Standards (listed in the Regulations), the sampling plan will

vary from producer to producer, depending on the nature of the process and

the heterogeneity of the waste. The aim of the programme is to provide a reliable

overall description of the waste, including the mean and standard deviation of

the parameters being measured.

The Agency recommends that the basis of sampling should be the load (eg a

skip). This means that the sampler is seeking to obtain an average figure (for

each parameter) for the skip as a whole, rather than focusing on small hotspots

of contamination. However, it is important to ensure that skips representing the

‘worst case scenario’ are included in the sampling programme. If, during subse-

quent compliance testing, just one skip fails the WAC, the whole waste stream

is deemed to be non-compliant and will be rejected by the landfill operator.

INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY PRIMARYPRODUCER

Source and origin of waste

Process producing the waste

Appearance of waste

EWC code

Demonstration that it is not banned waste

Whether it can be recycled or recovered

INFORMATION SUPPLIED BYSECONDARY PRODUCER

Treatment applied

Composition and assessment against WAC

Hazardous properties

Landfill class

Likely behaviour in landfill

Key variables for compliance testing

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Quality assurance is an important aspect of sampling. The official guidance

considers aspects such as the type of container, preservatives and temperature

of sample storage. The appropriate number of samples will depend on the nature

of the waste and should be calculated using sound statistical principles.

Tests required

The relevant tests are listed in the Schedules to the 2004 and 2005 Regulations,

together with the European Standards which describe how they should be carried

out. The leaching tests for granular wastes involve shaking a prepared sample

of the waste with water, in a ratio of ten parts liquid to one part solid (L/S 10),

then carrying out analysis of the leachate for the contaminant of concern. The

Agency recommends that this be carried out as a two stage procedure. To test

the leachability of monolithic wastes, a sample block of specified dimensions is

suspended in a tank of water for 64 days.

All wastes are tested for total organic content; hazardous wastes are addition-

ally tested for pH and acid neutralization capacity; inert wastes are additionally

tested for specified organic and flammable substances (see WAC above).

While it is normally the treated waste that is tested, in the case of monolithic

waste, the untreated waste must also be tested for total organic carbon and loss

on ignition. If it fails these tests, it will be excluded from landfill even though

subsequently treated.

Interpreting and reporting the test results

The general principle is that if any one of the sampled loads fails the WAC, the

waste is unsuitable for the intended class of landfill. However, the Agency guidance

advises the waste producer to look at the variability of the data. If only a few

values exceed the WAC and the variability is high, it may still be possible to send

the waste to landfill, provided the reason for the high values is known and a

remedy is available. (See the Agency guidance for a more detailed discussion

of variability and its implications.)

If just a few hot spots of contamination are identified, it may be possible to remove

them and treat them separately – the rest of the waste can then be consigned

to landfill. The test results may also point to opportunities for further treatment.

The basic characterization should include a report on the sampling and testing,

to include the following information:

• test results

• scale of sampling, eg a 20m3 container

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• demonstration that the limit values are not expected to be exceeded

during the next compliance assessment period (eg over the next year)

• evidence that some of the samples were collected at times when ‘worst

case’ waste quality was predicted.

Compliance testing and checking

LEVEL 2 – COMPLIANCE TESTING

Periodic compliance testing is required for process waste produced on a contin-

uous or regular basis. The waste producer draws up a basic characterization

to demonstrate that the waste stream is acceptable in (hazardous) landfill, and

then in co-operation with the contractor arranges for regular testing to ensure

that the information in the characterization is still valid.

Both waste producer and contractor should carry out compliance testing. The

Agency recommends testing over a 12 month period, with a minimum of six

targeted samples per year. The Agency guidance recommends ‘targeted worst

case sampling’ for compliance testing. If any of the tested samples fail the WAC,

the whole waste stream is deemed to have failed. Contractors who do not wish

to ban the waste stream can request another characterization and perhaps further

treatment.

LEVEL 3 – SPOT CHECKS AT THE LANDFILL SITE

The contractor must check each load of waste as it arrives at the gate. They will

look for readily determinable qualities such as physical appearance, odour, colour,

etc, mainly to confirm whether this is the actual waste stream which has been

characterized. These checks can be used to obtain samples for compliance testing.

Conclusion

Many waste producers have only belatedly become aware of their duty to sample

and test their wastes, and to prepare a detailed characterization. They will need

to start testing immediately, or risk losing the option of landfill disposal.

The tests must be done by an accredited laboratory and according to Biffa will

cost an average of £200 per sample – another factor contributing to rising waste

costs. Sampling plans are already required by law. Both contractors and the

Agency are able to provide help and guidance with the new duties, but the respon-

sibility lies with the waste producer.

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How strictly will the WAC and associated duties be enforced? Alan Potter, the

consultant who impressed the Select Committee, comments that “a crisis will

only be averted through pragmatism prevailing and a light touch on enforce-

ment”. At present the Agency is focusing its efforts on the hazardous landfills,

perhaps overlooking what is going into the non-hazardous ones. The recent relax-

ation of the leaching criteria, not just for monofill sites but also for ‘compatible

wastes’, suggests in the words of Cleanaway’s Gill Weeks that “things are being

relaxed to avoid a hazardous waste mountain”. This should not be a cause for

complacency, however, as enforcement may well tighten up once the regime

has bedded down.

References

Environment Agency guidance on sampling and testing is available at:

www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waste/232021/799638/799691/

821409/?version=1&lang=e

ESART’s Practitioner’s Guide to Sampling and Testing Waste is available at:

www.esart.org/projects/complete/ESART%20prac%20guide.pdf.

(ESART is the Environmental Services Association Research Trust, set up by

the waste management industry.)

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Chapter 5Producer responsibility

General principles ...............................................................................74

Packaging .............................................................................................74

End-of-life vehicles ..............................................................................79

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)........................84

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

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Chapter 5Producer responsibility

General principles

Producer responsibility is one of the general principles which inform EU (and

hence UK) environmental policy. The aim is that producers, rather than society,

should bear the costs of recovering and disposing of their products once they

become waste. This should encourage manufacturers to design products that

are more durable, easier to recover and contain fewer hazardous materials. The

existing producer responsibility Directives – on packaging, vehicles and

electrical equipment – all lay down challenging recycling targets which will divert

waste from landfill and ‘up the hierarchy’.

The concept of producer responsibility has been widened into Integrated Product

Policy, whereby producers are encouraged to improve the environmental

performance of their products throughout their life cycle. This takes into account

issues such as the consumption of materials and energy in manufacture, energy

consumption during use, and the environmental impact of the product once it

is discarded. So far there is no legislation on Integrated Product Policy.

This chapter looks at the three main producer responsibility schemes which apply

to UK manufacturers and suppliers. Further legislation can be expected in the

future, for example on batteries and used tyres.

Packaging

The packaging and packaging waste regime was the first producer responsi-

bility scheme to be established under the Environment Act 1995, implementing

Directive 94/62/EC. It has succeeded in increasing the amount of packaging recov-

ered, and the UK met its first set of EU targets in 2002. However, despite the

scheme having been in force since 1997, many producers are still confused about

their duties and each year several are prosecuted by the Agency. The highest

fine in 2002 was £96,000 for a large company that had benefited financially from

the offence. The Agency is eager to offer help to producers (contact their Producer

Responsibility unit on 020 7091 4036) and only prosecutes those who have failed

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to respond to persistent reminders to register, or who have deliberately flouted

the Regulations.

The scheme is complex and relies on manufacturers and retailers gathering

detailed data sets about their annual packaging flows. This has proved a challenge

to many smaller producers. The requirements have been modified and supple-

mented over the years as the Agency seeks to make the regime fairer, more

transparent and more effective.

Legislation

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations

1997 (SI 1997 No. 684) have been amended six times since their introduction

eight years ago. The most recent amendments were brought into force through

SI 2005 No. 717, and further amendments are expected in the near future.

Features

The European Commission sets national targets for packaging waste recycling

and recovery. A revised Packaging Directive set new targets for the years 2004-

2008.

Directive targets for 2008

Total recovery 60%

Total recycling 55%

Material-specific recycling targets:

Glass 60%

Metals 50%

Paper/fibreboard 60%

Plastic 22.5%

Wood 15%

Each Member State devises its own scheme to achieve the targets. In most other

Member States, the responsibility is divided amongst industry, consumers,

retailers and local authorities, and these schemes are in general more straight-

forward than the UK one. Consumers segregate packaging for recycling, local

authorities collect it and industry reprocesses it. However, fearful of the waste

mountains created by the German ‘green dot’ scheme in the early 1990s, the

UK went along a different route and assigned all the responsibility to industry.

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The UK Regulations apply to ‘producers’ which are subdivided into:

• manufacturers of the raw materials used in packaging, eg steel manufac-

turers, producers of plastic granules

• convertors, who turn the raw material into packaging eg by manufac-

turing boxes or cans

• packer/fillers, who put products into the packaging (eg beans into cans)

• retailers

• importers of packaging and packaging materials.

Producers are only subject to the Regulations if they have an annual turnover

of £2 million or more, and handle at least 50 tonnes of packaging or packaging

material each year. They must also supply packaging which they own to someone

further down the chain (for example, a retailer supplying packaging to the

consumer). Because smaller producers are exempt, the UK Government has to

set recovery targets for obligated businesses which are slightly higher than the

Directive targets (see table below).

National recovery targets for 2006-2010

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Total recovery (%) 66 67 68 69 70

Packaging recovery and recycling business targets (%)

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Paper 66.5 67 67.5 68 68.5

Glass 65 69.5 73.5 74 74.5

Aluminium 29 31 32.5 33 35.5

Steel 56 57.5 58.5 59 59.5

Plastic 23 24 24.5 25 25.5

Wood 19.5 20 20.5 21 21.5

Overall recovery 66 67 68 69 70

Minimum percentage of recovery to be achieved through recycling 92 92 92 92 92

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These business targets are divided up between the different categories of

producers as shown below.

Producers’ responsibilities for business targets

Raw material producers 6%

Converters 9%

Packer/fillers 37%

Seller 48%

Importers up to 100%

CALCULATING YOUR OBLIGATION

The two sets of targets are used by producers to calculate their annual recovery

and recycling obligations.

Recovery obligation = [tonnage of packaging handled in previous year]

x [percentage activity obligation] x [national recycling target]

So, for example, the 2006 recovery obligation for a store handling 50 tonnes

per year of cardboard boxes would be:

50 tonnes x 48% (retailer obligation) x 66.5% (fibreboard recovery target) =

16 tonnes.

Duties of producers

Many producers have been alarmed at the prospect of having to recycle and

recover a significant proportion of their packaging waste. They have the option

of recycling their own waste if they wish, but most meet their obligations through

membership of a compliance scheme. There are a number of schemes in opera-

tion, some national and some regional, with by far the largest being Valpak.

The schemes arrange for the collection of recyclable materials (not necessarily

from the members) and pay for these to be reprocessed. The reprocessors –

glass manufacturers, paper mills, incinerators, etc – then issue Packaging Waste

Recovery Notes (PRNs) confirming that a certain tonnage of packaging has

been reprocessed. These are issued to the compliance scheme, which presents

them to the Agency as evidence that the members’ obligations have been met.

This has worked quite well, although one scheme (Wastepack, registered with

SEPA) did fail to meet its 2001 obligation and contributed to the UK missing

its 2001 target.

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Producers who do not wish to register with a compliance scheme may register

directly with the Agency. They will then have to arrange themselves for the

recovery of the obligated tonnage of packaging waste, whether their own waste

or waste they have collected. The reprocessor will issue the PRNs direct to the

producer, who will then present them to the Agency as evidence of compliance.

Alternatively the producers can purchase PRNS.

Reprocessors and exporters

Reprocessors who wish to issue PRNs must first be accredited by the Agency.

They may only sell PRNs to obligated producers or their representatives. As the

PRNs are purchased, they have served as an economic instrument reflecting the

market demand for reprocessed materials. As most of the packaging now has

to be recycled rather than recovered for energy, PRNs issued by incinerators

now have very little value.

Exporters of packaging waste for reprocessing overseas must also be accred-

ited, and can then issue Packaging Waste Export Recovery Notes (PERNs) which

can also be used as evidence of compliance. Over 10% of packaging waste is

exported, mainly steel, glass and plastics.

The PRN and PERN schemes started out as voluntary but since 2003 have had

statutory status.

Increasing recycling

Over the period of the regime’s operation, the Agency has introduced different

measures to ensure that the regime really does result in increased recycling and

recovery, in line with the national waste strategy (see Chapter 1).

Sellers (or their compliance schemes) are obliged to provide consumers with

information about opportunities for recycling and recovery. The Agency has a

legal duty to monitor the way in which PRN revenues are used by reprocessors.

This means that reprocessors have to explain how much funding they have

provided for:

• increased reprocessing capacity

• collection of packaging waste

• developing markets and other options.

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Thorny issues

This regime has been characterized by legal disputes over what is ‘packaging’

and who is the ‘producer’ or ‘reprocessor’.

DEFINITION OF PACKAGING

The Agency has issued specific guidance on what is and is not packaging, working

on a case by case basis. Most of the guidance has been published in a

document The Agencies’ Interpretation of Packaging. It covers items as diverse

as lolly sticks (not packaging), cutlery on an airline meal tray (not packaging)

and lipstick containers (packaging). Retailers must include secondary packaging,

ie packaging which is used to group consumer goods – such as a carton or plastic

wrapper holding several cans of drink – in their calculations.

A few contentious items have been disputed in court. For example, it fell to the

Lord Chief Justice to pronounce on whether plant pots are packaging (they are,

on occasions). The most significant case was the Mayer Parry II Judicial Review.

Metal recyclers Mayer Parry wished to issue PRNs for recycled steel, but the

Agency argued that it is the steel works, not the recycler, which is the

reprocessor. The Agency won its case: Corus, not Mayer Parry, is entitled to

issue the steel PRNs.

Meeting future targets

Further changes to the regime have been proposed in order to meet the targets

for the next few years. DEFRA has announced that additional types of

packaging will become subject to the recovery obligation, in particular leased

packaging such as crates and pallets. There is also a proposal to give franchisers

an obligation for franchised pubs, restaurants etc (many of which individually

fall below the 50 tonne or £2 million thresholds).

End-of-life vehicles

THE DIRECTIVE

End of life vehicles (ELVs) are the second priority waste stream for which a statu-

tory producer responsibility scheme has been established. As with most waste

legislation, the scheme implements an EU directive, 2000/53/EC. The aim of the

directive is to reduce the environmental impact of scrapped vehicles by:

• facilitating and increasing the reuse, recycling and recovery of ELVs

• reducing the incidence of hazardous materials in vehicles

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• improving regulation through the introduction of Certificates of

Destruction for ELVs

• making sure that ELVs are treated and disposed of in an environmentally

sound manner

• setting up a system of producer responsibility.

RECOVERY TARGETS

The Directive sets the following recovery targets for all Member States:

• 85% by weight of ELVs to be recovered or reused by 1 January 2006

(the current UK recovery rate is approximately 75%)

• 95% by weight of ELVs to be recovered or reused by 1 January 2015.

These targets apply to cars and vans but not lorries, coaches or other commer-

cial vehicles. The recovery targets should ideally be met through materials

recycling. Only 5% of the 2006 recovery target and 10% of the 2015 target can

be achieved through energy recovery. In any case, there is little scope for energy

recovery of ELVs in the UK.

UK legislation

The UK was late to implement the Directive. It should have been implemented

by 21 April 2002, but the final set of UK regulations did not come into force until

3 March 2005.

The UK regulations are:

• The End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 (SI 2003 No. 2635)

• The End-of-Life Vehicles (Storage and Treatment) (Scotland)

Regulations 2003 (SI 2003 No. 593)

• The End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005

(SI 2005 No. 263).

The 2003 Regulations introduced new requirements concerned with:

• design requirements for vehicles relating to heavy metal content and

recyclability (not considered in this Report)

• authorized treatment facilities (ATFs)

• certificates of destruction (CODs)

• producer responsibility for ‘new’ ELVs.

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Authorized Treatment Facilities (ATFs)

ELVs and their components may only be treated, recovered or disposed of at

an ATF. ‘Treatment’ includes various operations such as shredding, shearing,

dismantling, and preparing shredder residues for disposal.

The 2003 Regulations required many hitherto exempt scrap metal and vehicle

dismantling businesses to have a waste management licence (see Chapter 2,

Overview of waste regulation). Any site wishing to treat ELVs, including the larger

vehicles not covered by the Directive, must have a waste management licence.

The only exemption is for sites which only treat ‘depolluted’ vehicles. Along with

other waste management facilities such as landfill sites, ATFs must be managed

by a ‘fit and proper person’ (FAPP) (see Chapter 2). However, this requirement

has been relaxed slightly for ATFs: the FAPP will be regarded as technically

competent if the site has been well run under the previous regulatory regime.

Some larger scrap metal sites already had waste management licences when

the 2003 Regulations came into force. These licences are being amended to include

the technical requirements of the Directive. The requirements are set down in

Schedule 5 to the Regulations and their aims are to:

• prevent pollution at the site, eg by specifying impermeable surfaces

and ensuring that fluids are segregated and not allowed to spill

• facilitate recycling by ensuring that recyclable components such as

tyres, catalysts and glass are carefully removed and stored, avoiding

damage to them wherever possible

• avoid the hazards to health and the environment created by batteries,

oils, mercury and other hazardous substances, eg by removing them

from vehicles prior to shredding.

CONSEQUENCES FOR INDUSTRY

When the 2003 Regulations came into force, 750 scrap metal and dismantling

sites which already had waste management licences automatically became ATFs.

Many have found it a challenge to comply with the technical requirements for

depollution, and could therefore face enforcement action from the Agency.

A further 1600 sites had been registered exempt under the previous regime. Only

600 of these applied to become ATFs, so the rest can handle only depolluted

vehicles.

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Certificates of Destruction (CODs)

The ATF must issue a COD to the last holder of the vehicle, free of charge, and

then notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency electronically. No further

change of keeper will then be recorded.

Producer responsibility for ‘new’ ELVs

‘New’ ELVs are those which were put on the market after 1 July 2002. The

producer, ie the manufacturer, must pay the cost of collection and treatment at

an ATF. The producer must then issue a certificate of compliance to the Agency

to show that this requirement has been met.

For older ELVs, the collection and treatment costs are borne by the last holder.

While in some areas people still receive a small sum when they take their car to

be scrapped, in other parts of Britain they have to pay the scrap metal site operator.

When the Regulations were first mooted, local authorities were concerned that

this new provision would lead to a large rise in the number of abandoned vehicles.

The Government allocated extra funding to local authorities between 2003 and

2006 to meet the additional costs of disposing of these vehicles.

Producer responsibility regulations

The 2005 Regulations fully establish the system of producer responsibility for

ELVs, and implement the recovery targets of the Directive.

DUTIES OF VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS

Producers, ie manufacturers and professional importers of vehicles, must register

with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). This should already have been

done (the deadline was 30 April 2005) for vehicles which are already on the

market. The producer must declare responsibility for new vehicles within six

months of placing them on the market. The Secretary of State has the right to

assign ‘orphan’ vehicles – for which no producer can be found – to individual

producers.

It is the responsibility of the producers to arrange for the collection of their vehicles

once they become ELVs. The collection system will consist of a national network

of ATFs and must meet the following criteria:

• accessible to those delivering the ELVs

• sufficient capacity to deal with all the producer’s vehicles which become

ELVs.

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By the time this Report is published, the producers should have submitted the

plans for their collection systems to the DTI for approval (the deadline was 31

August 2005). If the DTI is not satisfied that the network of ATFs will have suffi-

cient capacity, the producer must submit a revised plan.

Producers can take advantage of compliance schemes. In November 2005 two

schemes had been set up.

DUTIES OF ATFS

As from 1 January 2007, once ATFs have entered into an agreement with a

producer, they must accept that producer’s ELVs free of charge from the last

holder. If the last owner of a vehicle delivers the ELV to an ATF that is not part

of the producer’s network, the ATF may charge them.

The producer carries the costs of treatment. The ATF can reject vehicles if essen-

tial components, such as the engine, catalytic convertor, wheels, transmission

or coachwork, are missing.

By 1 April each year (beginning in 2007) the ATF operator or producer must

submit a certificate of compliance to the DTI to confirm that the year’s recycling

and recovery targets have been met.

Potential difficulties

Vehicle manufacturers are using an increasing amount of plastic in components,

partly in an effort to reduce fuel consumption. This will make it more difficult

to recycle the vehicles economically. An Environment Agency representative

estimates that the proportion of vehicles which can be economically reclaimed

will fall from the current 75% to 73% over the next few years – compared with

a 2006 recovery target of 85%. There is little scope to increase incineration with

energy recovery, due to the presence of heavy metals and other contaminants

in the waste and the general lack of incineration capacity in the UK.

ELVs became hazardous waste on 16 July 2005 and are therefore subject to the

new notification and consignment procedures (see Chapter 3, Hazardous waste

for details). As with other hazardous wastes, the opportunities for landfilling

of residues have been curtailed (see discussion on landfilling of hazardous waste

in Chapter 4, Landfill regulations and their impact).

Further guidance

DTI guidance on the 2005 regulations is available on www.dti.gov.uk/sustain-

ability/ELV_Guidance_Notes2.pdf.

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Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

As with the packaging and ELV schemes, the duty to recycle and recover WEEE

has been imposed at EU level. The aim of Directive 2002/96/EC is ‘the preven-

tion of WEEE and in addition, the reuse, recycling and other forms of

recovery of such wastes so as to reduce the disposal of waste’. The Govern-

ment also intends that the legislation should encourage sustainable design of

new products. The WEEE Directive goes hand in hand with another directive

on the reduction of hazardous substances (ROHS) in electrical and electronic

equipment. The ROHS Directive applies to the design stage of products and

is not considered in detail here.

The producer responsibility scheme for WEEE has not yet been finalized in the

UK, even though the Directive should have been implemented by 13 August 2004.

In August 2005 a further delay was announced, with the producer responsibility

regulations now not due to come into force until June 2006.

Industry has welcomed the delay, which should allow more time to establish

an adequate network of collection facilities for householders. However, the

Government’s repeated postponement of this legislation, coupled with a failure

to issue detailed proposals and guidance, has attracted criticism. John Cridland,

Deputy Director General of the CBI commented that:

“This sorry saga is, regrettably, yet another example of hurried, last minute

implementation of major European environmental Directives. Government

departments must heed the lessons of the recent National Audit Office Report

[Lost in Translation] and devote sufficient time and resource to getting their

introduction right”. (CBI Press Release, August 2005.)

Requirements of the directive

EQUIPMENT COVERED

• Large household appliances (eg white goods)

• Small household appliances

• IT and telecommunications equipment

• Consumer equipment

• Lighting equipment

• Electrical and electronic tools, except large stationary equipment

• Toys, leisure and sports equipment

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• Medical devices (except implanted and infected products)

• Monitoring and control instruments

• Automatic dispensers.

NATIONAL RECOVERY TARGETS FOR 31 DECEMBER 2006

(Targets refer to average weight per appliance.)

Recovery target Recycling/reuse target

Large household appliances 80% 75%

Small household appliances 70% 50%

IT and telecommunications equipment 75% 65%

Consumer equipment 75% 65%

Lighting equipment 70% 50%

Tools 70% 50%

Toys, leisure and sports equipment 70% 50%

Medical devices To be set To be set

Monitoring and control instruments 70% 50%

Automatic dispensers 80% 75%

Gas discharge lamps No target 80%

Producers will be responsible for achieving these targets.

DUTIES OF GOVERNMENTS AND PRODUCERS

• Member States must encourage manufacturers to design products in

a way which facilitates reuse and recycling.

• Member States must ensure that householders’ WEEE is collected free

of charge and adequate collection facilities are available. Producers

must finance the collection, treatment, recovery and disposal of

WEEE collected at these facilities.

• Distributors must take back WEEE equivalent to their products, free

of charge.

• Producers must take back non-household WEEE from their customers

free of charge.

• Member States must collect at least 4kg of WEEE per inhabitant per

annum (already achieved in the UK).

• All separately collected WEEE must be taken to authorized treatment

facilities, which must have an appropriate permit.

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• Producers are responsible for ensuring that adequate treatment

facilities are available.

• Producers will contribute to a collective scheme to finance the

collection and recovery of products placed on the market before 13

August 2005.

• For products placed on the market after 13 August 2005, producers

can either meet the costs individually or through a compliance

scheme.

• All new equipment must be marked with the ‘crossed out wheelie bin’

symbol, so consumers are aware of the need to segregate it for recycling.

It must also carry a mark identifying the producer.

• Consumers must be given information about the requirement to collect

WEEE separately and the collection system available.

Implementation in the UK

The proposals for UK implementation have many parallels with the existing

packaging and ELV schemes.

REGISTRATION OF PRODUCERS

Producers are companies which:

• manufacture electrical or electronic equipment,

• rebrand equipment produced by other manufacturers, or

• import electrical or electronic equipment.

Unlike the packaging regime, there is no exemption for small companies. Smaller

companies are advised to meet their obligations through membership of a compli-

ance scheme. Several schemes are already in existence including Valpak (the

packaging scheme). The compliance scheme will ensure that its members’ recycling

obligations are met and provide them with evidence of compliance.

Producers will have to register with the Environment Agency or SEPA. The annual

fee is likely to be:

• £730 for an individually registered producer

• £380 for a compliance scheme member

• £14 per outlet for retailers.

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Registration is expected to begin in January 2006. Obligated producers will have

to provide information about the company and about the categories of WEEE

they produce (there are 11 categories).

MARKING OF PRODUCTS

Manufacturers should already be marking their products with the crossed-out

wheelie bin as required by the Directive. They are also expected to keep records

of the weight and number of units of equipment they have placed on the market

during 2005.

COLLECTION OF WEEE

For business-to-business sales, manufacturers will enter into contracts with their

customers for the return and recovery of end-of-life products. Manufacturers

may take this opportunity to change the way they supply goods and services:

for example, by offering to upgrade equipment regularly as part of the contract,

or ‘selling’ a service rather than a piece of equipment. (See Guidance to manufac-

turers below.)

It is arranging the collection of WEEE from householders that is proving a

problem for the Government. They initially proposed a national clearing

house, but this proposal was rejected at a fairly late stage. The current expec-

tation is that householders will take their WEEE to the local civic amenity (CA)

site, where there will be additional containers to receive it. A scheme organ-

ized by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will provide extra funding to local

authorities to upgrade their CA sites. (In June 2005, it was reported that the BRC

had offered £5000-£6000 per site, but the Local Authorities Recycling Advisory

Committee was unhappy with this amount, claiming that costs could be as high

as £250,000 per site if the equipment has to be segregated and shrink wrapped.)

The DTI will allocate each CA site to a compliance scheme or large producer.

Once the CA site has collected the agreed amount for the scheme, it can sell

any surplus WEEE.

Companies which choose to register individually rather than joining a scheme

will be able to obtain certificates similar to the Packaging Waste Recovery Notes

to demonstrate that they have met their recycling obligation. Individual regis-

tration is favoured by companies producing high-value goods with a short life,

which contain valuable or reusable components. It will often be in the manufac-

turers’ best interests to collect and recover these products themselves. The

compliance scheme route is favoured by manufacturers of longer-lived items

such as white goods, which are likely to be obsolete by the time they are discarded.

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TREATMENT FACILITIES

As with ELVs, WEEE must be recovered at authorized treatment facilities (ATFs).

DEFRA has issued draft regulations on the licensing of these facilities.

Most ATFs will require a new or modified waste management licence, containing

conditions to ensure that the technical requirements of the Directive will be met.

For example, all liquids must be removed during treatment.

Exemptions from licensing should be available for:

• storage of WEEE prior to handing it over to an ATF

• repair and refurbishment of WEEE for reuse.

As with other licensing exemptions, there will be limits on the amount that can

be stored and treated without a licence.

Existing exemptions for the storage of waste on the producers’ premises will

continue; current registrations will be automatically modified. DEFRA would

like these exemptions to apply to both hazardous and non-hazardous waste, but

need permission from the European Commission which has not yet been

confirmed (as of July 2005).

Site operators must apply for a new or modified licence, or register for an exemp-

tion, by 31 March 2006.

Guidance to manufacturers

Envirowise has issued some helpful guidance to manufacturers on the WEEE

and ROHS Directives. (Directive on WEEE; Directive on ROHS; A guide to the

marketing, product development and manufacturing actions you need to take,

available free from the Envirowise website.)

The Directives have considerable financial implications for British industry. The

DTI’s 2003 Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment estimated a total cost of £217-

£455 million for compliance with the WEEE Directive alone: the biggest

component of this is the £98-£207 million for dismantling and treatment of WEEE.

Companies may well have to raise their prices in order to cover their costs.

However, there are opportunities for manufacturers to benefit financially from

the new legislation, for example by selling ‘greener’ products with lower running

costs, or providing innovative leasing services. An Envirowise study estimated

that UK electronics companies could save £205 million per year by adopting

sustainable product design best practice.

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Envirowise also recommends the following end-of-life options:

• manufacture durable products with a longer life

• reuse whole products (ie sell second-hand)

• upgrading products as part of the contract with the customer.

Manufacturers are strongly encouraged to discuss with their customers and

suppliers how products can be modified in order to meet the requirements of

the directives. They should also liaise with the recycling companies to work out

the best ways of collecting and recovering end-of-life products. For example,

products can be designed for ease of dismantling.

Take-back legislation is already in force in many other countries, such as Japan,

and the larger manufacturers are already having to comply. Smaller companies

are urged to take rapid action if they are to avoid losing their customers or even

having their products banned from sale.

Useful information

Information on the WEEE and ROHS Directives is available on the DTI website

at: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability. This site has links to the various consultation

papers and the latest timetable for implementation.

Envirowise can be contacted at www.envirowise.gov.uk or by telephoning:

0800 585794 for their free helpline.

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Chapter 6Local authorities and municipal waste

Local authority responsibilities ..........................................................91

Local authorities and the landfill directive........................................91

Landfill allowances and trading scheme (LATS) ..............................94

Implication of landfill diversion targets ............................................96

Changes to planning principles .........................................................99

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

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Chapter 6Local authorities and municipal waste

Local authority responsibilities

Local authorities have two distinct areas of responsibility.

• As Waste Collection Authorities, and/or Waste Disposal Authorities,

they are responsible for collecting municipal waste, deciding how it

is managed, drawing up contracts with the waste industry to manage

the waste and achieving targets for recycling and landfill diversion.

• As Local Planning Authorities, they must play a part in implementing

national waste policy as well as ensuring that a suitable network of

waste facilities is available. These responsibilities extend to all types

of waste, not just municipal waste.

Single tier local authorities bear all these responsibilities. In two-tier areas, the

District or Borough council is the Waste Collection Authority, while the County

Council is the Waste Disposal Authority and Local Planning Authority. Local

authorities in two-tier areas must work in partnership if they are to meet local

and national recycling and waste diversion targets: in recognition of this, the

Government requires most of them to draw up joint municipal waste strategies.

Local authorities and the landfill directive

The Government’s policy on waste is set down in Waste Strategy 2000 (see Chapter

1), and subsequent amending documents such as Planning Policy Statement (PPS)

10. While the strategy contains targets and policies for all waste streams, the

main thrust is to reduce the landfilling of municipal waste.

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The driver for this is the Landfill Directive, which sets all Member States

challenging targets to reduce the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste

(BMW). The targets as they apply to the UK are set out below.

• 75% of 1995 levels by 2010

• 50% by 2013

• 35% by 2020

The percentages refer to tonnages of BMW sent to landfill.

Since the UK has always been heavily dependent on landfill, a complete trans-

formation of municipal waste management must be achieved. When the

Directive first came into effect, over 80% of the UK’s municipal waste was

landfilled. The success of Government policy so far can be measured by the fall

to 72% in 2003/4. While the 2010 target may be within reach, the 2013 target

presents a major challenge to the Government and local authorities. It was origi-

nally estimated that the UK would have to divert 33 million tonnes of BMW from

landfill each year in order to meet the Directive’s targets (this has since been

revised downwards as household waste generation has not increased at the rate

expected).

The chart below shows the waste management options used for England’s 29.1

million tonnes of municipal waste during 2003/4.

Figure 6: Management of municipal waste 2003/4

Landfill 72%Recycling/composting 19%

Energyrecovery 9%

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

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Targets

Back in 2000 the Government set national targets for recovery and recycling.

In 2002 the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit produced its own strategy, Waste

Not Want Not, which set more demanding targets. The key targets are shown

in the table below.

Deadline Waste Strategy 2000 Waste Not Want Not

2003/4 17% recycling or composting (ACHIEVED)

2005 40% recovery25% recycling or composting (23% achieved as at April 2005)

2010 45% recovery30% recycling or composting

2015 67% recovery33% recycling or composting 45% recycling

The targets refer to household waste.

The 2003/4 official recycling target has been achieved; the 2005 recycling and

composting target was only just missed (according to informal figures released

in September 2005), and the Government has recently moved the goalpost by

reinterpreting the deadline as April 2006. However, the 2010 and 2015 targets

still seem out of reach: as the chart above indicates, only 29% of municipal solid

waste was recovered in 2003/4.

Local authorities have been pressed to increase their recycling levels through

a further set of official targets set at local authority level. The 2003 targets varied

according to the authority’s previous success in recycling: those who had been

the worst recyclers (recycling under 5% of municipal waste) only had to increase

the level to 10%, whereas the keen recyclers achieving over 15% had to increase

their recycling rate to 33%. Things got tougher for the greener councils in 2001

when the Government raised some of their targets to 40%. To many observers

this seemed unfair, and the outcome was that various local authorities failed to

achieve their targets. As there were no formal sanctions, little came of this failure

but the targets have now been scaled down and capped at 30% for 2005/6. DEFRA

is currently consulting on the recycling targets for 2007/8. The Minister would

prefer to freeze targets apart from those councils with the (lowest) targets of 18%,

which would be raised to 20%. See www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/recycling-

composting/index.htm.

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Landfill allowances and trading scheme (LATS)

Aspirational targets were clearly not going to achieve the dramatic reductions

in landfilling needed to comply with the Directive, so the Government moved

ahead with a statutory scheme. This was established through the Waste and

Emissions Trading Act 2003, which applies throughout the UK.

The basic principle of the legislation is to assign to each local authority a maximum

tonnage of BMW which can be landfilled in a given year. This is the landfill

allowance. In England and Scotland the allowances are tradable, but in Wales

they are not.

The Landfill (Scheme Year and Maximum Landfill Amount) Regulations 2004

(SI 2004 No. 1936) determine the start dates for each scheme and lay down

the UK and national targets for the years 2010, 2013 and 2020 (the ‘target years’),

as shown in the table below.

MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF BMW, IN MILLIONS OF TONNES, THAT MAY BE LANDFILLED IN EACH TARGET YEAR

Area 2010 2013 2020

UK 13.7 9.13 6.39

England 11.2 7.46 5.22

Scotland 1.32 0.88 0.62

Wales 0.71 0.47 0.33

Northern Ireland 0.47 0.32 0.22

National regulations

Each of the devolved administrations has its own set of regulations with national

targets for the years 2005-2009 and administrative provisions. These are:

• The Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (England) Regulations

2004 (SI 2004 No. 3212), as amended by SI 2005 No. 880

• The Landfill Allowances Scheme (Wales) Regulations 2004 (WSI

2004 No. 1490)

• The Landfill Allowances Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI

205 No. 157).

The schemes are now all underway, the Welsh scheme having begun in October

2004 and the others on 1 April 2005. Each WDA has been allocated its own

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

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individual allowances, which can be found on the DEFRA website at

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/lats/index.htm. Note that the

targets are separate from the existing local authority recycling targets (see above)

and do not replace them.

The targets for England for the next five years are set out below.

Year Maximum amount (million tonnes)

2006 15.2

2007 14.53

2008 13.64

2009 12.53

Scheme years end on 31 March.

The English, Welsh and Scottish schemes contain similar administrative provi-

sions . Local authorities, landfill operators and the regulators all have new duties

to keep records and make returns to ensure that the landfilling of BMW is properly

documented. However, there are some important differences.

PENALTIES

English local authorities which fail to achieve their targets will face a penalty

of £150 per tonne of BMW sent to landfill in excess of the allowance. The penalty

is £200 in Wales. In Scotland, the penalties start at £10 per tonne in 2005, rising

to £150 in 2008.

BIODEGRADABLE CONTENT

The estimated biodegradable content of municipal waste varies between the

devolved administrations:

• England: 68%

• Scotland: 63%

• Wales: 61%

TRADING, BANKING AND BORROWING

In Wales the allowances are fixed but in England and Scotland they can be traded,

banked or borrowed.

In Scotland, a Waste Disposal Authority can borrow up to 10% of the next year’s

allowance in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. In England, the authority can borrow

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

95THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

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up to 5% of the next year’s allowance (except in target years and the years immedi-

ately preceding target years). Local authorities can bank unused allowances for

use in the following year (again, unless it is a target year or the year preceding

one).

The trading of allowances is intended to allocate resources more efficiently.

Authorities which have invested in recovery facilities can sell their surplus landfill

allowances to authorities which are heavily dependent on landfill. This allows

the landfill-dependent authorities extra time in which to develop the new recovery

and recycling capacity.

Co-operation between authorities

In order to achieve these targets, the two tiers of local government (WDAs and

WCAs) will have to work together. The 2003 Act requires them to draw up joint

municipal waste strategies, although authorities with a good record of meeting

their performance standards are exempt from this duty (see SI 2004 No. 3242

for details). WDAs will be able to direct WCAs to deliver their waste in a separated

form.

Implication of landfill diversion targets

The targets are forcing a rapid shift away from landfill to other waste manage-

ment options. Most waste collection authorities are now carrying out kerbside

collection of recyclables such as steel and aluminium cans, glass, paper, card

and plastics. A common strategy involves collecting recyclables and residual

domestic refuse on alternate weeks: the halving of refuse collections forces house-

holders to segregate out their recyclables. For example, Amber Valley District

Council in Derbyshire has a fortnightly collection of refuse, and on alternate

weeks collects paper, card, glass and cans. Residents can also buy a composting

bin at a reasonable price. Families who cannot fit all their refuse into the wheelie

bin have to make the long journey to the nearest civic amenity site.

While kerbside collections put up local authority waste costs, collecting the

recyclables is not the real challenge. Very many new recovery and recycling facil-

ities will be needed to carry out the increased recycling. Tucked away in an Annex

to Waste Strategy 2000 was an estimate that the following new facilities would

be needed to meet the BMW diversion targets:

• 100-300 materials recycling facilities (MRFs) (average 40,000 tonnes

per annum) AND

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

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• 100-200 composting units (average 30,000 tonnes per annum) AND

• 30-160 incinerators (average 250,000 tonnes per annum).

Future of energy-from-waste

While the waste industry is certainly active in diversifying from landfill, and large

contractors are offering integrated services including MRFs and composting

plant alongside established landfill sites, it seems unlikely that this huge jump

in recovery capacity can be achieved in time. Energy-from-waste plants (incin-

erators), which can deal with the greatest volume of waste, are unpopular with

the public and also not favoured by many local authorities who take the position

that they tie up waste streams which could perhaps be recycled. The official

position is that energy from waste should not be considered until the potential

for recycling and composting has been fully explored.

Those local authorities attempting to build large energy from waste plants are

faced with long delays as the planning process is prolonged by local objectors

– always with the risk that planning permission may not be obtained at all. The

proposed Belvedere incinerator in south east London is one such example: having

been granted planning permission in 2003, the project has just been put on hold

again following an announcement by the DTI that the public enquiry would be

reopened. This is attributed to ‘emerging changes’ to waste strategy and planning

policy, and the fact that the London Waste Plan presumes against mass burn

incineration.

Mechanical/biological treatment (MBT)

New treatment technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, autoclaving and

mechanical/biological treatment (MBT) in its various forms, are being developed

by various authorities. MBT, according to a recent article in ENDS Report, is

‘the most talked about form of municipal waste management in Britain’. There

are different systems involving combinations of mechanical sorting, drying and

biological processes. All remove recyclables and produce either a ‘compost’ with

a much lower biodegradable content than the original waste (but which still

requires landfilling if no use can be found), or a refuse derived fuel (RDF).

MBT is viewed as being more acceptable to the public than incineration, and

at least eight local authorities have either built or planned for new MBT plants.

The problem with processes producing RDF, such as the Ecodeco process

employed by Shanks, is that the RDF has to be either incinerated or landfilled.

Cement kilns do not have sufficient capacity to burn it all, so either new markets

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

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must be found, or further municipal incinerators built. Discussions are currently

taking place at EU level as to whether the residue could be reclassified as ‘non

waste’, in which case it could be burned in installations such as power stations

which do not comply with the Waste Incineration Directive.

Integrated waste management

Some forward looking authorities have long-established integrated waste strate-

gies involving a mixture of landfill, energy recovery and recycling. The

Government’s recently issued PPS 10 defines integrated waste management

as follows.

• Decisions must take account of the entire waste chain (eg collection,

transport, storage, treatment, disposal) including the identification of

markets for recovered energy and materials.

• All key players should be involved: waste producers, the waste

industry, regulators, planners, householders and community groups.

• There must be a mixture of waste management options.

• Partnerships are a key element, particularly between Waste Collection

Authorities and Waste Disposal Authorities.

• Any integrated waste management system must take account of the

Precautionary Principle (see Chapter 1).

Hampshire, with its Project Integra, is the best known example, but not the only

one. For example, Lincolnshire has developed a new integrated waste facility

near Grimsby which includes a composting plant, a MRF and Britain’s newest

incinerator, opened in July 2005. Other authorities, often those in the poorest

areas where recycling is not a priority for the electorate, are belatedly having

to catch up and find alternatives to landfill under pressure of financial penal-

ties. Most municipal waste contracts will come up for tender over the next four

to five years and, according to a leading waste company, the majority of these

will be for integrated waste management projects.

Export

One short-term solution is the export of recyclable materials to countries such

as China. During 2005 there have been press reports of municipal waste and

WEEE being illegally exported in contravention of the transfrontier shipment

regulation. It would be disappointing if the outcome of an environmental direc-

tive were to shift waste management operations to countries where both the

environment and the safety of workers are often disregarded.

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

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Changes to planning principles

One of the obstacles to achieving the landfill diversion targets has been the diffi-

culty in obtaining planning permission for new waste facilities, particularly

incinerators. The Government indirectly addresses this issue in PPS 10, which

lays down the general principles to be followed by planning authorities.

The principle of self sufficiency, by which communities and organizations take

responsibility for their own waste, still underpins the guidance. However, rather

than allowing local authorities complete autonomy in deciding how they will

meet future waste management needs, the Government requires them to take

account of Regional Spatial Statements (RSSs) produced by Regional Planning

Bodies. In turn, the RSSs must reflect national policy and include plans for facil-

ities of national and regional significance. The RSS will allocate tonnages of waste

to each local authority.

Local authorities are exhorted to handle applications for waste management

facilities in an ‘expeditious and sympathetic way’, provided they reflect the devel-

opment plan. While incinerators are not mentioned by name, local authorities

are reminded that modern, well managed waste facilities should pose little risk

to human health and that health concerns should primarily be dealt with under

the pollution control regime.

The new planning guidance drops the requirement for plans and proposals to

reflect the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO). (BPEO is defined as

the waste management option which provides the most benefit or least damage

to the environment as a whole, at acceptable cost, in the long and short term.)

The concept of BPEO has proved confusing and difficult to apply in practice

and has resulted in delays to the determination of planning applications. All waste

planning documents are now subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment,

which renders a separate BPEO test superfluous.

PPS 10 replaces the requirement for BPEO with broader principles of sustain-

able waste management. When making decisions, planning authorities should:

• consider alternative options in a systematic way

• engage the local community

• assess environmental impacts in both long and short term

• seek waste management options that best meet the general policy objec-

tives of moving waste up the hierarchy, and protecting the environment

and human health.

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

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Planning authorities are expressly directed to move away from landfill, in a way

consistent with the availability of tradable allowances and with local recycling

targets. The guidance instructs authorities to take an integrated approach to

waste management, as explained above.

It is recognized that for hazardous waste, the hierarchy cannot always be applied

in the same way as for municipal waste. Incineration without energy recovery

may be the only suitable option for wastes such as PCBs, CFCs and toxic solvents;

landfill is likely to be the best option for asbestos.

It remains to be seen whether the new planning guidance will speed up the devel-

opment of the new waste treatment and recovery facilities so urgently needed,

or whether the slow pace of the planning process will continue to delay devel-

opment to such an extent that our EU targets are not met.

6 LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

100THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

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Glossary of abbreviations

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S

Page 111: Waste Management

Glossary of abbreviations

ADR European Agreement concerning the international carriage of

dangerous goods by road

APC Air Pollution Control

ASL Approved Supply List (under CHIP)

ATF Authorized Treatment Facility (for end-of-life vehicles)

BAT Best Available Techniques (for IPPC)

BMW Biodegradable Municipal Waste

BPEO Best Practicable Environmental Option

CA Civic amenity (site)

CHIP Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply)

Regulations 2002

COD Certificate of Destruction

DEFRA Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

ELV End-of-Life Vehicle

ENDS ENDS Report (the journal for environmental professionals)

EWC European Waste Catalogue

FAPP Fit and Proper Person

IPPC Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control

LATS Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme

MBT Mechanical-Biological Treatment

MRF Materials Recycling Facility

MSW Municipal Solid Waste

PERN Packaging waste Export Recovery Note

PPC Pollution Prevention and Control (regime)

PRN Packaging waste Recovery Note

GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS

102THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

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ROHS Restriction on the use of Hazardous Substances Directive

(relating to electrical and electronic equipment)

RSS Regional Spatial Strategy

SEPA Scottish Environment Protection Agency

SNRHW Stabilized Non-Reactive Hazardous Waste

WAC Waste Acceptance Criteria

WAP Waste Acceptance Procedures

WCA Waste Collection Authority

WDA Waste Disposal Authority

WID Waste Incineration Directive

WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

WM2 Environment Agency guidance document on the assessment of

hazardous waste

GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS

103THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS

Page 113: Waste Management

The commercial exploitation of intellectualproperty rights by licensing

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Commercial contracts – draftingtechniques and precedents

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The Competition Act 1998: practicaladvice and guidance

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Insights into successfully managing thein-house legal function

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Negotiating the fault line between private practice andin-house employment can be tricky, as the scope forconflicts of interest is greatly increased. Insights intosuccessfully managing the In-house legal function discussesand suggests ways of dealing with these and other issues.

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BUSINESS AND COMMERCIAL LAW

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Inventions can be patented, knowledge can beprotected, but what of information itself?

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International commercial agreements

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What are the chances of either you or your employeesbreaking the law?

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HR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW

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Data protection law for employers

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Successful graduate recruitment

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Practical advice on how to attract and keep the best.

Successfully defending employmenttribunal cases

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How to turn your HR strategy into reality

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A practical guide to developing and implementing aneffective HR strategy.

Internal communications

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New ways of working

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New ways of working examines the nature of the workdone in an organisation and seeks to optimise the workingpractices and the whole context in which the work takesplace.

Page 116: Waste Management

Knowledge management

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Managing knowledge in companies is nothing new.However, the development of a separate discipline called‘knowledge management’ is new – the introduction ofrecognised techniques and approaches for effectivelymanaging the knowledge resources of an organisation.This report will provide you with these techniques.

Reviewing and changing contracts of employment

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Applying the Employment Act 2002 –crucial developments for employers and employees

AUDREY WILLIAMS £125

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The Act represents a major shift in the commercialenvironment, with far-reaching changes for employersand employees. The majority of the new rights under thefamily friendly section take effect from April 2003 withmost of the other provisions later in the year.

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Email – legal issues

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• How the Data Protection Act 1998 affects the degreeto which you can monitor your staff

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• Example of an e-mail and Internet policy document.

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1 Email: [email protected]

2 Telephone: +44 (0)20 7749 4748

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Implementing an integrated marketingcommunications strategy

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1 85418 251 • 2001

‘Buildings can be rebuilt, IT systems replaced. Peoplecan be recruited, but a reputation lost can never beregained…’

‘The media will publish a story – you may as wellensure it is your story’ Simon Taylor

‘News is whatever someone, somewhere, does notwant published’ William Randoplh Hearst

When a major crisis does suddenly break, how ready willyou be to defend your reputation?

Insights into understanding the financialmedia – an insider’s view

SIMON SCOTT £99.00

1 85418 083 5 • 1998

This practical briefing will help you understand the waythe financial print and broadcast media works in the UK.

European lobbying guide

BRYAN CASSIDY £129.00

1 85418 144 0 • 2000

Understand how the EU works and how to get yourmessage across effectively to the right people.

SALES, MARKETING AND PR

Page 118: Waste Management

FINANCE

Lobbying and the media: working withpoliticians and journalists

MICHAEL BURRELL £95.00

1 85418 240 4 • 2001

Lobbying is an art form rather than a science, so thereis inevitably an element of judgement in what line to take.This expert report explains the knowledge and techniquesrequired.

Strategic planning in public relations

KIERAN KNIGHTS £69.00

1 85418 225 0 • 2001

Tips and techniques to aid you in a new approachto campaign planning.

Strategic planning is a fresh approach to PR. An approachthat is fact-based and scientific, clearly presenting thearguments for a campaign proposal backed with evidence.

Managing corporate reputation – the new currency

SUSAN CROFT and JOHN DALTON £125

1 85418 272 2 • June 2003

ENRON, WORLDCOM… who next?

At a time when trust in corporations has plumbed newdepths, knowing how to manage corporate reputationprofessionally and effectively has never been more crucial.

Surviving a corporate crisis – 100 things you need to know

PAUL BATCHELOR £125

1 85418 208 0 • April 2003

Seven out of ten organisations that experience acorporate crisis go out of business within 18 months.

This very timely report not only covers remedial actionafter the event but offers expert advice on preparing everydepartment and every key player of the organisation sothat, should a crisis occur, damage of every kind is limitedas far as possible.

Tax aspects of buying and sellingcompanies

MARTYN INGLES £99.00

1 85418 189 0 • 2001

This report takes you through the buying and sellingprocess from the tax angle. It uses straightforward casestudies to highlight the issues and more importantstrategies that are likely to have a significant impact onthe taxation position.

Tax planning opportunities for familybusinesses in the new regime

CHRISTOPHER JONES £49.00

1 85418 154 8 • 2000

Following recent legislative and case law changes, thewhole area of tax planning for family businesses requiresvery careful and thorough attention in order to avoid themany pitfalls.

Practical techniques for effective projectinvestment appraisal

RALPH TIFFIN £99.00

1 85418 099 1 • 1999

How to ensure you have a reliable system in place.

Spending money on projects automatically necessitatesan effective appraisal system – a way of deciding whetherthe correct decisions on investment have been made.

See ful l detai ls of a l l Thorogood t i t les on www.thorogood.ws

Page 119: Waste Management

Strategy implementation through projectmanagement

TONY GRUNDY £95.00

1 85418 250 1 • 2001

The gap

Far too few managers know how to apply projectmanagement techniques to their strategic planning. Theresult is often strategy that is poorly thought out andexecuted.

The answer

Strategic project management is a new and powerfulprocess designed to manage complex projects bycombining traditional business analysis with projectmanagement techniques.

MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

For full details of any title, and to view sampleextracts please visit: www.thorogood.ws

You can place an order in four ways:

1 Email: [email protected]

2 Telephone: +44 (0)20 7749 4748

3 Fax: +44 (0)20 7729 6110

4 Post: Thorogood, 10-12 Rivington Street,London EC2A 3DU, UK

t +44 (0)20 7749 4748 e [email protected] w www.thorogood.ws