Hazardous Waste Regulations

(16th July 2004)

On the 16th July 2004 the co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste was stopped under the Landfill Regulations 2002.

This type of regulation aims to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and reduce the environmental impact of any waste that is landfilled.

The Hazardous Waste Regulations have been consulted upon and are expected to be issued around June 05. For developments, visit www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability. The Regulations will have implications for the administrative arrangements for the existing consignment note system as well as what you can and cannot do with hazardous waste.

How Does this Affect Businesses? For businesses this means that you may no longer dispose of hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste at the same landfill site. There are specific hazardous waste sites in the UK, but their number and capacity is limited. These will be able to take hazardous waste but the cost will be greater than non-hazardous landfill sites.

• Non-hazardous landfill current tax is £15 per tonne increasing by at least £3 per tonne each year.
• Hazardous landfill can cost anything up to £70 per tonne.

If you mix hazardous and non-hazardous waste in the same disposal unit then the whole unit becomes hazardous and waste disposal companies who landfill at non-hazardous sites have the right to refuse it. Hazardous waste must therefore be segregated.

The regulations state that hazardous waste should be pre-treated to remove the hazard before it is landfilled. This will be implemented in July 2005 to meet the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), under the Landfill Regulations.

What is Hazardous Waste?

Hazardous waste now includes substances that are not typically thought of as hazardous such as computer monitors and florescent tubes.

To determine whether you handle hazardous waste consult the European Waste Catalogue (EWC) that has classified waste lists grouped into categories. Any hazardous waste is marked with an asterix. There is also a six-digit code, which is required for your transfer note under the Duty of Care.

In the EWC hazardous wastes are either:

• absolute entries, meaning hazardous regardless of any other factors, or
• mirror entries

Mirror entries are paired codes for certain types of waste, one code for when that waste contains a hazardous material and is therefore hazardous, and a sister entry for the same waste not containing any hazardous substance.

Special vs. Hazardous Waste

The term 'special' waste will disappear once the new Hazardous Waste Regulations are introduced.

• Special waste regulations apply to ALL types of controlled waste.
• Hazardous waste is a separate list of all wastes deemed to be hazardous

Further guidance and information about hazardous waste collection and disposal points can be found at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs.