Current Waste Legislation & Directives
The activities relating to the handling and disposal of waste are covered by numerous pieces of legislation and directives. The PHS Wasteteam make it their job to understand and keep abreast of all legislative changes and developments relating to waste management - so you don’t have to.
Below are summaries of the main pieces of current legislation, along with links to the relevant Government websites where more comprehensive information can be obtained.
EU Landfill Directive/Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations (2002)
The UK Government has staggered the implementation of this EU Directive that has to be fully implemented by July 2009.
So far…
- July 2004 Hazardous waste is only disposed of in certain sites
- Disposal of hazardous liquid waste banned
- July 2005 ensuring that wastes are only disposed of in accordance with waste acceptance criteria
- 2005/06 banning the disposal of used tyres
- 30th October 2007 Non-hazardous landfills will only be able to accept treated wastes
Non-hazardous landfills will not be able to accept liquid wastes
"Treated" is defined by the Environment Agency as…
"There are three requirements under the regulations:
- There must be a physical, thermal, chemical or biological process (sorting is explicitly included).
- This must change the characteristics of the waste.
- It must do so in order to either:
- Reduce its volume
- Reduce its hazardous nature
- Facilitate its handling, or
- Enhance its recovery.
For non-hazardous wastes, the hazardous nature cannot be reduced. Compliance therefore usually means reducing the volume to landfill, or increasing the amount recovered. Most treatments therefore result in some waste being diverted from landfill."
www.environment-agency.gov.uk »
EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
UKWEEE Regulations
Under the WEEE Directive as from July 1 st 2007 it is now illegal to dump waste electrical and electronic equipment into landfill.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment, by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill.
The Hazardous Waste Regulations (2005) (HWR)The List of Waste Regulations (2005) (LoWR)
The HWR set out the rules for assessing if a waste is hazardous or not. As part of the assessment of waste the HWR refer you to the “List of Wastes” given in the LoWR. This List is also known as the European Waste Catalogue.
Wastes on the List of Wastes are hazardous if they have one or more of the fourteen listed hazardous properties (e.g. Explosive, Oxidizing etc).
www.environment-agency.gov.uk »
View details of the Guide to the Data Protection Act »
