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Non-hazardous waste: Environment law update

30 October 2007

As from today, all businesses have a legal obligation to ensure that all non-hazardous waste that they produce is pre-treated before it is sent to landfill. This obligation already applies to hazardous waste and failure to comply could result in a fine or waste not being collected or accepted at a landfill.

Whilst in the past businesses could safely assume that the obligation to treat non-hazardous waste was solely the responsibility of the waste collector or local authority, this has now changed. However, research suggests that many small businesses are unaware of this new obligation.

If a business currently places all of its waste in a bin or skip for disposal in a landfill, then it must act to ensure compliance with the new law. There are two ways in which a business can ensure that it complies with these new obligations by treating the waste itself or arranging for its waste collector to discharge the obligations.

Self-treatment of waste is not complicated and the easiest way is to segregate the waste that can be recycled. For example, an office-based business that segregates its printer cartridges or paper, or which separates its cardboard waste for collection (as opposed to simply arranging for all waste to be collected as mixed waste) will have pre-treated its waste sufficiently to discharge its obligations. Segregating just one type of waste from the general waste will mean that the treatment requirement will be met but where, for example, a business has two offices the waste from each office must be treated in the same way.

If self-treatment is chosen, a written declaration of the treatment method used will have to be provided to the waste collector or, if the waste is taken straight to a landfill, to the landfill operator. Copies of those declarations should be kept to show that the obligations have been met and failure to provide such declarations could mean that the waste will not be collected. The evidence that is kept should include the type of treatment that has occurred, the type of waste that has been segregated, the type of waste sent for recycling and the percentage of waste sent for recycling.

The alternative to self-treatment is to employ a waste contractor to treat the waste. Whilst the waste contractor then assumes responsibility for ensuring that the waste will be accepted at a landfill, the business producing the waste should ensure that the arrangements require the contractor to comply with the treatment requirements.

The implementation of these new requirements is intended to achieve an increase in the recycling and recovery of waste for re-use and a reduction in the landfilling of waste likely to cause harmful emissions. Businesses will be concerned that compliance will increase their costs, but can take relatively simple steps to guard against this by reviewing their current waste disposal arrangements, investigating ways of reducing the amount waste they produce and by introducing the means to segregate different waste streams.

The Environment Agency website provides helpful and practical guidance on the new statutory obligations - www.environment-agency.gov.uk.