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Caroline Hand MSc 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. This Report is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
IT Governance
David Norfolk
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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 Croners 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 particularly 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
POLICY FRAMEWORK
Principles of environmental and waste legislation .................................2 UK policy ......................................................................................................4 Achieving the objectives .............................................................................4
Denition of waste.......................................................................................8 Permitting and licensing of waste facilities ............................................11 Duty of care and y-tipping......................................................................18 Other recent legislation with relevance to waste ..................................20
HAZARDOUS WASTE
24
Introduction................................................................................................25 Hazardous waste arisings.........................................................................26 What is hazardous waste? ........................................................................27 Duties under the hazardous waste regulations ......................................38
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CONTENTS
PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY
73
General principles .....................................................................................74 Packaging ...................................................................................................74 End-of-life vehicles ....................................................................................79 Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) ..............................84
90
Local authority responsibilities ................................................................91 Local authorities and the landll directive..............................................91 Landll allowances and trading scheme (LATS) ....................................94 Implication of landll diversion targets ..................................................96 Changes to planning principles ...............................................................99
GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS
101
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 objective of shifting waste away from landll to recovery and recycling. Chapter 2 moves on to examining the regulatory regimes which govern waste management. Wellestablished legislation such as the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is not considered in detail; instead the focus is on newer developments such as the regulation of waste facilities under the Pollution Prevention and Control regime, and the recent initiatives to clamp down on y-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 Landll 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 rst time during 2005, and it is essential to know whether your waste is one of these. The chapter on the Landll 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 landlled at co-disposal sites? No-one knows for sure, but a recent survey has yielded some revealing information. What is certain is that industrys waste costs are set to continue rising sharply as companies foot the bill for the additional treatment or specialized landll 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 Landll 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 Landll Directive on local authorities. It outlines the new system of landll 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 landll.
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1 POLICY FRAMEWORK
The 1989 Community Waste Strategy gave legal expression to the concept of the waste hierarchy. The UKs revised National Waste Strategy sets it out as follows:
Waste reduction
Reuse
Energy recovery
The waste hierarchy The waste diversion targets in the Landll Directive (see Chapter 6, Local authorities 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 landll. Producer responsibility 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 management 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 environment and in particular without i) ii) iii) risk to water, soil, plants or animals causing nuisance through noise or odours 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.
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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 possiblethe Government aims to break the link between economic growth and the environmental impact of waste. This means a step-change in the way waste is handled and signicant new investment in waste management facilities. (Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 10 Planning for Sustainable Waste Management, July 2005, available on www.odpm.gov.uk.) This quote shows how UK policy directly reects 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 information to waste producers (for example, via Envirowise). When it comes to legislation and detailed policy measures, the Governments objective has really been to shift waste from landll to recycling and recovery.
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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 landll tax, aggregates levy and Packaging Waste Recovery Notes can be used to divert waste from landll. One of the chief barriers to increasing recycling has always been the lack of markets, or uctuating 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 benets. 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 nd 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 specic situations of stakeholders within Member States. (Such allegations have been laid against aspects of the Landll Directive.) 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 rm enforcement. The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, in its eighth report cited above, concluded that DEFRA
1 POLICY FRAMEWORK
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 Departments 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 Governments 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 implementing far reaching EU measures such as the landll 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 benets to society becomes apparent.
Denition of waste
It is very important to understand the legal denition of waste, which is established at EU level. Materials will only be subject to waste legislation if they fall within the scope of the denition. For example, radioactive waste is excluded from the denition 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 denition of waste to cover almost all secondary materials. This will be discussed in greater detail below.
Legislation
WASTE
The denition of waste throughout the EU is taken from the revised Waste Framework Directive 75/442/EEC, as amended by 91/156/EEC. Article 1 of the Directive denes 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 contamination of soil from an unintentional spillage. The following materials are excluded from the EU denition 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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CONTROLLED WASTE
UK waste controls apply only to controlled wastes which are dened 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 claried in the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No. 588). The term household 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 denition. Threatened with EU infraction proceedings, the UK is having to extend the denition 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 pesticides will be subject to the hazardous waste legislation, including restrictions on landll. 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 replace 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 denition 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 denition has been extended to take in a greater range of materials that might not intuitively be regarded as waste.
The ECJ considered that the denition of waste in the Waste Framework Directive covered both the spilled hydrocarbons and the surrounding contaminated soil. It was argued that since, in order to protect the environment, there was a need to deal with the contaminated soil (either by removal or remediation) it fell into the category of substances which the holder is required to discard.
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This judgement has immediate implications for the oil industry, but raises a much more serious concern for owners of contaminated sites. In the UK, it could mean that all contamination could be classed as controlled waste and thus fall within the scope of waste regulation. Anyone with a contaminated site could technically be regarded as operating an illegal landll. Likewise, the regulators could nd themselves obliged to ensure the remediation of all contaminated sites, regardless of costs and benets. At present, the remediation of contaminated land is regulated and enforced under the contaminated land provisions in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 but this carefully drawn up legislation could be rendered irrelevant if all contamination is classed as 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 implemented: the Government is not yet certain how these will be regulated in the long term.
LEGISLATION
The regime originates with Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention 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) esh 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 particular, 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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By 2008 most waste facilities will be regulated under PPC. The regime covers all landlls 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.
Waste facilities which were formerly regulated under the licensing regime (see below) are classed as Specied 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 rectied. 2. Technical competence. A FAPP must hold a Certicate of Technical Competence (COTC) issued by the Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board. Specic courses and certicates apply to a variety of waste activities (eg hazardous landll; 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 sufcient 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 landlls, which have the greatest potential for post-closure environmental impact (eg through leachate contaminating groundwater, or emissions of methane gas). Landlls are therefore subject to more stringent nancial requirements than other waste facilities. For example, landll operators must put away cash deposits.
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The PPC regime in itself would not have had a major impact on the waste management industry, as the EU directive applies only to larger installations (for example, landlls accepting over 10 tonnes of waste per day). However, the UK Government has decided to use the PPC regime to implement other key directives, namely: The Landll 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 landlls and almost all incinerators. Many of the requirements of the Landll Directive and WID will be included as PPC permit conditions, for example, the ban on landlls accepting liquid wastes. The Landll Directive and its implications are considered in detail in Chapter 4.
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 operators 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, efuent 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.
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 nd 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 Governments 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 reneries. The European Commission considers that there should be more emphasis on the regeneration of waste sump oils for use in lubrication products. Britains only waste sump oil regeneration plant, operated by OCC at Stourport, has not been operating for some years.
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 framework for the system of licensing is laid down in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with detailed provisions in the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 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 difcult 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 landlls 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 Certicate of Completion from the Agency to conrm 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, Landll regulations and their impact) will make it more difcult 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 ofce. 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.
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 Agencys website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/103599/exemptions_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 conditions 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 conditions have become more stringent and a greater number of sites require a full waste management licence (see Chapter 5, Producer responsibility).
The introduction of the landll 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 landll charges, redirected their waste to exempt landspreading and landscaping projects such as unnecessary sound attenuation bunds or unduly bumpy golf courses. This deprived the landll 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 introduction 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 exemptions. 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 notiable exempt activities are carried out they must be notied to the Agency, giving details of the waste and reasons why the activity will be of environmental benet. 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 consultation 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.
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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 y-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.
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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 xed penalty. The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act increased the maximum ne in a magistrates 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 y-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 y-tipping. The 2005 Act also removes the y-tippers defence that they were acting on their employers instructions.
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.
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are the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No. 568). Equivalent Regulations apply to rail transport. Note that prior to transportation, the waste has to be classied in accordance with ADR. This is a separate procedure from classication 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 reect the hazardous property identied 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 classied 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 classication.
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 requirements impact on anyone who disposes with waste food of animal origin (meat and sh 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 landlling of animal by-products: in the UK, this ban applies to raw meat and sh 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 legislation 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 identied 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 authorities, 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 qualies as hazardous waste. This means that if a dig and dump solution is chosen, the waste must go to hazardous landll; 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 landll sites in mind, and is not really suited to short term remediation projects. Projects have been delayed due to the difculty and complexity of obtaining licences, and it is not always easy for remediation projects to meet the conditions 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 remediation permit tailored specically 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 authorising 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, Landll regulations and their impact) there are very few landll 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 treatment at their landll sites. A recent report indicates that a centralized hub offering soil washing and bioremediation could be more cost-effective than landll.
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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 Landll Directive to divert municipal waste from landll. 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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Introduction
The EU denition of hazardous waste now applies in the UK, having replaced the term special waste. About 180 waste streams previously regarded as nonspecial qualify as hazardous, with the implication that many companies have become hazardous waste producers for the rst 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 landlled, it is consigned to a hazardous landll 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 landll 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 segregating their wastes to ensure that only the truly hazardous wastes are consigned to hazardous landll. Issues relating specically to the landlling of hazardous waste are considered in more detail in Chapter 4, Landll regulations and their impact.
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3 H A Z A R D O U S WA S T E
Industry/waste type Minerals Agriculture etc, food processing Wood, pulp, paper, cardboard Leather, fur and textiles Petroleum, natural gas, pyrolytic treatment of coal Inorganic chemicals Organic chemicals Coatings, adhesives, sealants, printing inks Photographic Thermal processes Chemical surface treatment of metals etc Physical surface treatment of metals and plastics Oil wastes, wastes from liquid fuels Organic solvents, refrigerants, propellants Packaging, cloths, lter materials, protective clothing Waste not otherwise specied Construction and demolition wastes Human and animal healthcare Waste management, water treatment Municipal wastes Wastes not otherwise specied, not listed in chapter 16
2002 Special waste arisings (tonnes) 110,720 4,170 2,790 3,660 88,460 231,110 531,970 90,360 35,170 171,560 114,750 90,370 964,270 57,750 44,490 672,050 1,255,970 18,880 343,830 92,520 69,850 4,994,700
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Incineration 5%
Treatment 32%
Landfill 42%
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The Environment Agency has produced comprehensive guidance on the assessment of hazardous waste in its manual WM2 Hazardous Waste: Interpretation of the Denition and Classication of Hazardous Waste which is required reading for anyone directly involved with the classication procedure. This is available on the Environment Agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.
Assessment procedure
The ow 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 ow chart step-by-step.
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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 efuent and gaseous emissions regulated under PPC as pollutants 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 reclassied as controlled wastes in the near future. Note that contaminated soil excavated during browneld remediation projects does fall within the denition of hazardous waste.
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 identied by a six digit code. The entries cover both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, with hazardous wastes identied by an asterisk. The waste producer must nd 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. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. mineral exploitation agricultural and food production wood, pulp, paper and cardboard leather, fur and textiles petroleum rening, gas purication and coal pyrolysis inorganic chemicals organic chemicals
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8. 9.
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, lter material and protective clothing. If these chapters do not yield an appropriate entry, look in Chapter 16, wastes not otherwise specied in the list. The option of last resort is the series of 99 entries at the end of the industryspecic chapters, eg 20 03 99 municipal wastes not otherwise specied.
For many waste streams there is only one appropriate entry. If this is not marked with an asterisk, the waste is denitely not hazardous (eg 15 01 02 plastic packaging). If it is marked with an asterisk, the waste is denitely 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 difculty 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 differentiates 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 classication procedure depends on a knowledge of the chemical composition of the waste. In some cases, for example where the waste is a single substance or an off-specication 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.
The denition 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). Approximately 2000 of the most commonly used hazardous chemicals are classied and assigned an entry in a register known as the Approved Supply List (ASL), available in paper or electronic form from the Health and Safety Executive. If a chemical is listed on the ASL, it is denitely a dangerous substance. Each chemical on the ASL is assigned one or more of the following categories of danger: explosive oxidising extremely ammable highly ammable 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 classication. For example, hydrogen peroxide is classied as: O: R8 C: R34 (oxidising: contact with combustible material may cause re) (corrosive: causes burns).
It is not possible for the ASL to list every known hazardous substance: institutions whose activities produce less common substances (for example, research laboratories) should refer to the testing and classication 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.
A waste stream may contain one or more dangerous substances without necessarily 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 regulatory regime under consideration. A particular waste chemical may end up being classied as highly ammable 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 signicant differences. These are set out below. H1 Explosive H2 Oxidising H3 Highly ammable 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 ammability hazard hazards H9 and H13 do not have an equivalent in CHIP.
At this stage of the classication 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
H1 H2
HAZARDOUS PROPERTY
Explosive Oxidising
THRESHOLD (% by weight)
Testing required Depends on the substance see EA guidance Liquids: Flashpoint 55C Solids: Testing required, or calculation from guidance 10% 20% 25% 0.1% 3% 0.1% 1% 1% 5% N/a: see WM2 0.5% 5% 0.1% 1% Testing required Depends on substances produced see WM2
H3
Highly ammable
Irritant, R41 Irritant, R36,R37, R38 Harmful Very toxic Toxic Carcinogen category 1, 2 Carcinogen category 3 Corrosive, R35 Corrosive, R34 Infectious Toxic for reproduction, R60, R61, category 1 or 2 Toxic for reproduction, R62, R63, category 3 Mutagenic, R46, category 1 or 2 Mutagenic, R68, category 3 Releases toxic gas in contact with water or air After disposal, wastes produce another substance, eg a leachate, possessing any of the other hazardous properties Ecotoxic, R50 or R52 or R53 Ecotoxic, R50 and R51 and R52 and R53 Ecotoxic, R51 and R52 and R53 Ecotoxic, R54 or R55 or R56 or R57 or R58
25% 0.25% 2.5% Thresholds not yet set, so not hazardous waste 0.1% 0.005%
H14 H14
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Risk phrases in the table above R34 R35 R36 R37 R38 R41 R46 R50 R51 R52 R53 R54 R55 R56 R57 R58 R59 R60 R61 R62 R63 R68 Causes burns Causes severe burns Irritating to the eyes Irritating to the respiratory system Irritating to the skin Risk of serious damage to eyes May cause heritable genetic damage Very toxic to aquatic organisms Toxic to aquatic organisms Harmful to aquatic organisms May cause long-term effects in the aquatic environment Toxic to ora Toxic to fauna Toxic to soil organisms Toxic to bees May cause long-term adverse effects in the environment Dangerous for the ozone layer May impair fertility May cause harm to the unborn child. Possible risk of impaired fertility Possible risk of harm to the unborn child Possible risk of irreversible effects
Note that thresholds are not appropriate for all the hazardous properties. Wastes suspected of being explosive, ammable or oxidising should be tested (eg using a ashpoint test for ammability). 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 classication (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 properties 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 components 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 reclassied 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 landll (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.
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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, uorescent 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 uorescent tubes will have to go to facilities which are permitted to take hazardous waste. (Industrial waste is already expected to comply with the regulations.) Producers of these wastes are already required to notify the Agency and follow the new consignment note procedure (see below).
Several of the newly hazardous wastes fall into the category of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), in particular televisions, monitors and uorescent 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 difcult to nd markets for recovered CRT glass due to its hazardous nature, especially since June 2005 when the UKs only CRT manufacture, Nippon Electric Glass, stopped taking the recovered glass. The market for CRTs in Western Europe has declined as consumers turn to at 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 landlled, but as yet it is uncertain whether it will meet the Waste Acceptance Criteria for hazardous landll (see Chapter 4).
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It is the individual premises which must be notied 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 notied electronically via their website www.environment-agency.gov.uk/newrulesonwaste. Alternatively, hazardous waste producers can call the Agency on 08708 502858. Registrations will not be received by local Agency ofces. 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 Agencys notication guide, available at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/sitepremise_ regguide_1027669. The notication must be accompanied by a fee, which varies according to the method of notication (cheapest using the website). The Agency will then issue a premises code. As of July 2005, large numbers of waste producers had still not notied the Agency due in part to teething troubles with the Agencys electronic system.
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Consignment procedure
The Hazardous Waste Regulations introduced a new procedure for the consignment 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 carriers 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 conrmation of disposal: under the old system, they were notied of each separate consignment. Waste producers who are concerned about their waste have a legal right to request conrmation 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 ne.
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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 qualied 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 specic 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 segregation of hazardous waste, listing several waste types which can be mixed without breaking the law (available on the Agencys website). For example, it is acceptable 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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While in the short term the duty to segregate hazardous wastes is likely to create extra work and expenditure, there are good environmental and nancial 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 landll is rising sharply. If wastes are segregated it is easier to recycle and recover those with economic value. It also enables better characterization of each waste stream, and may help in identifying opportunities for
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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, res and accidents at waste facilities.
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Introduction
The Landll 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 landll towards a range of other options. Costs for waste producers have risen; some waste producers are nding 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 landll. Waste producers must take far greater responsibility for their wastes, particularly 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 landlls reject non-compliant wastes, have resorted to bending the rules at the eleventh hour. The implementation of the Landll 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 benet 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 landll option would have been managed better by the Member States individually, since many geological and geophysical characteristics are unique to specic 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-benet analysis. He also points out that the original justication for the landll diversion targets, ie the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, was a spurious aim due to the low proportion of methane emissions arising from landlls 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).
It is the rst 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 landll is an issue of primary concern to local authorities, although of course it also has implications for the landll operators, providers of recovery and recycling services and the general public. The relevant statute is the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2004 (not the Landll Regulations). This issue will be considered further in Chapter 6, Local authorities and municipal waste.
The new technical requirements for landll sites were implemented by the Landll (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No. 1559) and Scottish equivalent 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 specications for landll liners (eg a 5m impermeable barrier for hazardous waste sites)
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collection, treatment and use of landll gas monitoring procedures, eg to assess the composition and volume of leachate, landll 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 management industry, as most of them were already good practice in the UK. The main effect has probably been to close down old, badly engineered landlls which were in any case nearing the end of their lives. In the case of hazardous landlls, 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 landlls 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 exibility where a risk assessment demonstrates that there is no threat to the environment.
REGULATION
Landll 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 landlls will be regulated under PPC. Some of the requirements of the Landll 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 nancial provision to cover operational, closure and aftercare costs accident prevention energy efciency (for the larger landlls) reporting to the Agency on waste accepted and results of monitoring.
The Landll Regulations make specic reference to the fees charged by the site operator. They must cover the costs of setting up and operating the landll, complying with the permit conditions, and ensuring that the landll 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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It is an offence to landll waste in the wrong type of site. The effect of this was to outlaw co-disposal, ie the landlling of hazardous industrial waste mixed with biodegradable non-hazardous waste. Hazardous waste must be landlled 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.
Banned wastes
The Regulations ban various wastes from landll. The ban applies to wastes which are: liquid explosive
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corrosive oxidising ammable or highly ammable 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 landll before the Regulations came into force. However, the bans on liquids and tyres have created some difculties. Considerable volumes of liquid now require treatment, and the removal of liquid from landlls slows down the degradation processes which help to stabilize the waste. Large numbers of tyres must now be found an alternative 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 opportunities 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 landll must be pre-treated, unless the treatment would not bring about any environmental benet. 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 landll the acceptable treatment for paint tins is to empty and crush them. Removing recyclables such as cans from the municipal waste stream also qualies 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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A leading waste management company has given the following examples of acceptable treatment. For industrial waste: segregation at source, with some fraction not being landlled sorting at a materials recycling facility incineration with landll 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 authoritys strategy to reduce the landlling 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 solidication) it can be landlled 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 landll is increasing as waste companies are investing in new cells: for some wastes this will be the solution to the shortage of hazardous waste landll capacity.
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Number of hazardous landlls 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.
Altogether, the total capacity (permitted and pending) is 4,444 tonnes per annum. Total hazardous waste landlled 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 y-tipping, the scale has been nowhere near what was predicted. The new Port Clarence hazardous waste landll in the north east, operated by Augean, had to revise its prot estimates downward due to the lack of customers. Still, concerns remain and it is not certain what the long term trends will be.
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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 landll 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 ofcial response was scornful of Mr Potters 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 browneld remediation have dropped dramatically since the ban. Contractors did their best to get as much soil as possible into landll before the co-disposal ban took effect, leading to a marked peak in landlling during the early part of 2004 (see Figure 3). However, this factor was scaled in to Mr Potters calculation.
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The leading environmental journal ENDS Report carried out a survey of (larger) industrial waste producers and environmental consultants. The interesting ndings are summarized in the bar charts over.
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Figure 4b: Do you anticipate problems in nding sufcient landll/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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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 explanation 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 nding alternative options for their waste, such as new recovery methods or disposal abroad. (See case study below.)
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 landll. He boldly commented that Id say 70% of companies on this industrial estate are packing up such waste at the end of the day and dropping it over a hedgerow somewhere. Its too costly for them to deal with it any other way. (He later claried that there was no evidence that his neighbours were actually doing this!)
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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 landll on Teesside (Port Clarence) estimate that the costs of hazardous waste landll have trebled since the ban: not because of the demand for capacity, but because of the new engineering requirements.
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Figure 5: Special waste arisings; landll deposits 2002 Estimated landll 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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investment in the necessary treatment facilities by waste producers and the waste industryThe 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.
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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 landll 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 landll 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 landll, the Agency is running the risk of infraction proceedings by the European Commission. Around 50 further waste streams have been identied by industry as potential orphan wastes, including the oily rags, lter cake etc referred to above. A representative 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 landlled.
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 benets 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 landll (see Chapter 1). It is also regarded (unjustiably) as a polluting industry by the public, so planning permission is difcult to obtain. Expansion is therefore unlikely in the near future.
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The following inert wastes are acceptable at an inert landll 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 specic 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 Arsenic Barium Cadmium Total chromium Copper Mercury Molybdenum Nickel Lead Antimony Selenium Zinc Chloride Fluoride Sulphate Phenol index Dissolved organic carbon Total dissolved solids L/S=10 l/kg mg/kg dry substance 0.5 20 0.04 0.5 2 0.01 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.06 0.1 4 800 10 1000 1 500 4000
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Parameter Total organic carbon Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes PCBs Mineral oil PAHs
The Environment Agency may allow a higher limit value in the case of soils, provided the Dissolved Organic Carbon gure 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 landlled 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 landll dedicated to asbestos. (This restriction is likely to present difculties to those disposing of contaminated soils where asbestos is mixed with other waste see Orphan wastes above.)
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Component mg/kg dry substance Arsenic Barium Cadmium Total chromium Copper Mercury Molybdenum Nickel Lead Antimony Selenium Zinc Chloride Fluoride Sulphate Dissolved organic carbon Total dissolved solids
L/S=10 l/kg
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. Noncohesive waste must have an in situ bearing ratio of at least 5%.
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Component Arsenic Barium Cadmium Total chromium Copper Mercury Molybdenum Nickel Lead Antimony Selenium Zinc Chloride Fluoride Sulphate Dissolved organic carbon
Mg/m2 1.3 45 0.2 5 45 0.1 7 6 6 0.3 0.4 30 10,000 60 10,000 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 unconned 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
Component mg/kg dry substance Arsenic Barium Cadmium Total chromium Copper Mercury Molybdenum Nickel Lead Antimony Selenium Zinc Chloride Fluoride Sulphate Dissolved organic carbon Total dissolved solids
L/S=10 l/kg
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. Noncohesive waste must have an in situ bearing ratio of at least 5%.
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Component Arsenic Barium Cadmium Total chromium Copper Mercury Molybdenum Nickel Lead Antimony Selenium Zinc Chloride Fluoride Sulphate Dissolved organic carbon
Mg/m2 20 150 1 25 60 0.4 20 15 20 2.5 5 100 20,000 200 20,000 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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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 signicant new duty which will create extra work and costs for industry.
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The testing requirements relate primarily to hazardous wastes destined for landll. Non-contaminated inert wastes, non-hazardous wastes and construction wastes containing asbestos and destined for asbestos-only landll 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 nd 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 landll. 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.
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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. INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY PRIMARY PRODUCER 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 BY SECONDARY PRODUCER Treatment applied Composition and assessment against WAC Hazardous properties Landll class Likely behaviour in landll Key variables for compliance testing
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 sufcient in itself to give full assurance that the waste has been assigned to the correct class of landll.
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 gure (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 subsequent compliance testing, just one skip fails the WAC, the whole waste stream is deemed to be non-compliant and will be rejected by the landll operator.
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Quality assurance is an important aspect of sampling. The ofcial 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 specied dimensions is suspended in a tank of water for 64 days. All wastes are tested for total organic content; hazardous wastes are additionally tested for pH and acid neutralization capacity; inert wastes are additionally tested for specied organic and ammable 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 landll even though subsequently treated.
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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.
Periodic compliance testing is required for process waste produced on a continuous or regular basis. The waste producer draws up a basic characterization to demonstrate that the waste stream is acceptable in (hazardous) landll, 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.
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 conrm 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 landll 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 responsibility 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 enforcement. At present the Agency is focusing its efforts on the hazardous landlls, perhaps overlooking what is going into the non-hazardous ones. The recent relaxation of the leaching criteria, not just for monoll sites but also for compatible wastes, suggests in the words of Cleanaways 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 ESARTs Practitioners 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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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 landll 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 rst producer responsibility scheme to be established under the Environment Act 1995, implementing Directive 94/62/EC. It has succeeded in increasing the amount of packaging recovered, and the UK met its rst 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 ne in 2002 was 96,000 for a large company that had beneted nancially 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 outed the Regulations. The scheme is complex and relies on manufacturers and retailers gathering detailed data sets about their annual packaging ows. This has proved a challenge to many smaller producers. The requirements have been modied and supplemented 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 20042008.
Directive targets for 2008 Total recovery Total recycling 60% 55%
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 straightforward 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 manufacturers, producers of plastic granules convertors, who turn the raw material into packaging eg by manufacturing boxes or cans packer/llers, 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 Total recovery (%) 66 2007 67 2008 68 2009 69 2010 70
Packaging recovery and recycling business targets (%) 2006 Paper Glass Aluminium Steel Plastic Wood Overall recovery Minimum percentage of recovery to be achieved through recycling 66.5 65 29 56 23 19.5 66 92 2007 67 69.5 31 57.5 24 20 67 92 2008 67.5 73.5 32.5 58.5 24.5 20.5 68 92 2009 68 74 33 59 25 21 69 92 2010 68.5 74.5 35.5 59.5 25.5 21.5 70 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 Converters Packer/llers Seller Importers 6% 9% 37% 48% up to 100%
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% (breboard recovery target) = 16 tonnes.
Duties of producers
Many producers have been alarmed at the prospect of having to recycle and recover a signicant 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 operation, 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) conrming 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.
Increasing recycling
Over the period of the regimes 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 specic 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 signicant 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.
End-of-life vehicles
THE DIRECTIVE
End of life vehicles (ELVs) are the second priority waste stream for which a statutory 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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making sure that ELVs are treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner
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 commercial 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 nal 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) certicates of destruction (CODs) producer responsibility for new ELVs.
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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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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 sufcient capacity to deal with all the producers 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 satised that the network of ATFs will have sufcient 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 producers 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 producers network, the ATF may charge them. The producer carries the costs of treatment. The ATF can reject vehicles if essential 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 certicate of compliance to the DTI to conrm that the years recycling and recovery targets have been met.
Potential difculties
Vehicle manufacturers are using an increasing amount of plastic in components, partly in an effort to reduce fuel consumption. This will make it more difcult 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 notication and consignment procedures (see Chapter 3, Hazardous waste for details). As with other hazardous wastes, the opportunities for landlling of residues have been curtailed (see discussion on landlling of hazardous waste in Chapter 4, Landll regulations and their impact).
Further guidance
DTI guidance on the 2005 regulations is available on www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/ELV_Guidance_Notes2.pdf.
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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.
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 nance 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 nance 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 compliance 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 manufacturers 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 expectation 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 organized 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 certicates similar to the Packaging Waste Recovery Notes to demonstrate that they have met their recycling obligation. Individual registration is favoured by companies producing high-value goods with a short life, which contain valuable or reusable components. It will often be in the manufacturers 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 modied 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 modied. 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 conrmed (as of July 2005). Site operators must apply for a new or modied licence, or register for an exemption, 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 nancial implications for British industry. The DTIs 2003 Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment estimated a total cost of 217455 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 benet nancially 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 modied 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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The driver for this is the Landll Directive, which sets all Member States challenging targets to reduce the landlling 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 landll. Since the UK has always been heavily dependent on landll, a complete transformation of municipal waste management must be achieved. When the Directive rst came into effect, over 80% of the UKs municipal waste was landlled. 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 originally estimated that the UK would have to divert 33 million tonnes of BMW from landll each year in order to meet the Directives 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 Englands 29.1 million tonnes of municipal waste during 2003/4.
Energy recovery 9%
Landfill 72%
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Targets
Back in 2000 the Government set national targets for recovery and recycling. In 2002 the Prime Ministers 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 2003/4 2005 Waste Strategy 2000 17% recycling or composting (ACHIEVED) 40% recovery 25% recycling or composting (23% achieved as at April 2005) 45% recovery 30% recycling or composting 67% recovery 33% recycling or composting Waste Not Want Not
2010
2015
45% recycling
The targets refer to household waste. The 2003/4 ofcial recycling target has been achieved; the 2005 recycling and composting target was only just missed (according to informal gures 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 ofcial targets set at local authority level. The 2003 targets varied according to the authoritys 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/recyclingcomposting/index.htm.
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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 Landll Allowances and Trading Scheme (England) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No. 3212), as amended by SI 2005 No. 880 The Landll Allowances Scheme (Wales) Regulations 2004 (WSI 2004 No. 1490) The Landll 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
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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 ve years are set out below.
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 Maximum amount (million tonnes) 15.2 14.53 13.64 12.53
Scheme years end on 31 March. The English, Welsh and Scottish schemes contain similar administrative provisions . Local authorities, landll operators and the regulators all have new duties to keep records and make returns to ensure that the landlling 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 landll 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%
In Wales the allowances are xed 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 years allowance in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. In England, the authority can borrow
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up to 5% of the next years allowance (except in target years and the years immediately 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 efciently. Authorities which have invested in recovery facilities can sell their surplus landll allowances to authorities which are heavily dependent on landll. This allows the landll-dependent authorities extra time in which to develop the new recovery and recycling capacity.
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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 landll, and large contractors are offering integrated services including MRFs and composting plant alongside established landll sites, it seems unlikely that this huge jump in recovery capacity can be achieved in time. Energy-from-waste plants (incinerators), 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 ofcial 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.
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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 reclassied 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.
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 directive were to shift waste management operations to countries where both the environment and the safety of workers are often disregarded.
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Planning authorities are expressly directed to move away from landll, 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; landll is likely to be the best option for asbestos. It remains to be seen whether the new planning guidance will speed up the development of the new waste treatment and recovery facilities so urgently needed, or whether the slow pace of the planning process will continue to delay development to such an extent that our EU targets are not met.
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Glossary of abbreviations
G L O S S A RY O F A B B R E V I AT I O N S
Glossary of abbreviations
ADR European Agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road APC ASL ATF BAT BMW BPEO CA CHIP Air Pollution Control Approved Supply List (under CHIP) Authorized Treatment Facility (for end-of-life vehicles) Best Available Techniques (for IPPC) Biodegradable Municipal Waste Best Practicable Environmental Option Civic amenity (site) Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 COD DEFRA ELV ENDS EWC FAPP IPPC LATS MBT MRF MSW PERN PPC PRN Certicate of Destruction Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs End-of-Life Vehicle ENDS Report (the journal for environmental professionals) European Waste Catalogue Fit and Proper Person Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Landll Allowance Trading Scheme Mechanical-Biological Treatment Materials Recycling Facility Municipal Solid Waste Packaging waste Export Recovery Note Pollution Prevention and Control (regime) Packaging waste Recovery Note
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ROHS
Restriction on the use of Hazardous Substances Directive (relating to electrical and electronic equipment)
RSS SEPA SNRHW WAC WAP WCA WDA WID WEEE WM2
Regional Spatial Strategy Scottish Environment Protection Agency Stabilized Non-Reactive Hazardous Waste Waste Acceptance Criteria Waste Acceptance Procedures Waste Collection Authority Waste Disposal Authority Waste Incineration Directive Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Environment Agency guidance document on the assessment of hazardous waste
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