Waste Industry Legislation

The Waste Industry and waste producers in general have had to comply with many new pieces of legislation during the last few years, and more recently with a number of European Directives coming into force. These laws have been passed in order to govern the way in which we deal with the wastes we generate, improve the handling of potentially dangerous wastes, and increase public awareness of the need to reduce, reuse, recycle and of course, dispose of our wastes.
For the commercial waste producer to keep up with these changes in legislation is almost impossible. It has created a legislative jungle.

HTL has always offered professional advice to its customers and hope that the contents of this page will further assist you with terms and phrases you may have heard quoted.

The information below is only a guide and cannot be relied on as legal advice.

The Duty of Care says that you must keep wastes safe and only allow an authorised company to collect, transport, recycle or dispose of it. If you break this law you can be fined an unlimited amount! It applies to any business that produces waste. You must keep all wastes in a suitable container, and transfer them to a Registered Waste Carrier. You must describe the wastes on a Transfer Note and keep a copy. A free advice leaflet is available from DEFRA Free Literature on 0870 1226 236.

A Landfill Tax was introduced in 1996 to encourage recycling initiatives by increasing the cost of disposal. Designed to be offset by National Insurance contributions, this levy will increase by £1 per tonne each year until 2004 when increases are expected to accelerate considerably.

Link: www.hmce.gov.uk/business/othertaxes/landfill-tax.htm


During the next few years the European Landfill Directive will increasingly limit both the quantities and types of waste allowed for landfill in order to encourage investment in “pre-treatment”, recovery and recycling technologies. This will again increase the costs of sustainable waste management. It will also ban certain waste streams from landfill altogether, such as tyres (2004). This may encourage manufacturers to use alternative raw materials in their products.

Link: www.greencomsumerguide.com/news66.htm


The Waste Packaging Regulations affect all companies with a turnover greater than £2M or who handle more than 50 tonnes of packing wastes each year. It relates to six types of materials: paper, plastic, steel, aluminium, glass and wood. These companies must demonstrate that they have taken measures to ensure recovery of a percentage of the packaging materials they handle. The obligations under this regulation are also expected to increase in the near future.

Link: www.dti.gov.uk/access/guidehh.htm


Further waste packaging regulations coming out of Brussels which will seek to control the management of End of Life Vehicles (ELA) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) will follow soon.

One recent regulation, which has had a profound effect on all of us, is the new ODS (Ozone Depleting Substances) or “Fridge Legislation”. We must now remove all the man-made CFC’s from the insulation in the fridge before the unit can be recycled. It is estimated that there will be 3 million fridges to be treated each year in the UK.

Link: www.dti.gov.uk/access/ozone.htm


Other Links:

Environment Agency:

www.environment-agency.gov.uk

DEFRA:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/management/