Check up on imminent UK waste disposal rulings

The UK's Environment Agency is reminding businesses of imminent changes to the management of hazardous waste, highlighting their legal obligation to handle it safely and responsibly.

The UK's Environment Agency is reminding businesses who create hazardous waste in the manufacturing sector of imminent changes to the management of hazardous waste, highlighting their legal obligation to handle it safely and responsibly, and to only give it to properly licensed waste carriers or waste facilities.

The UK has a history of using landfills to dispose of both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes cheaply and easily.

Such wastes have commonly been disposed of together in the same landfill.

This practice of co-disposal will be banned from 16 July 2004.

In addition, from 16 July 2004, all hazardous waste requires treatment* before it is landfilled.

The impact of the new rules will affect not only the operators of landfill sites but also producers of hazardous wastes.

Currently, there are over 200 landfills authorised to accept hazardous waste in England and Wales.

From 16 July 2004, it is expected that the number of merchant landfills available will be squeezed to approximately 10.

The loss of landfill capacity and the requirement for hazardous waste to be treated after July 2004 is expected to have a significant impact on the ability of business to dispose of their wastes.

To prepare as much as possible for the changes, the Environment Agency is urging businesses to follow a five-point plan: * Check whether your waste is hazardous using Environment Agency guidelines at

* Know where your hazardous waste is going.

Mismanagement of waste, particularly hazardous waste, has the potential to harm the environment and human health.

Businesses have a legal duty of care to ensure that their hazardous waste is passed to someone who has the authority to handle such as registered waste carriers or properly authorised waste management facilities.

If in doubt check their authorisation or with the Environment Agency on 0800 807 060 (UK).

Failure to do so might result in the your waste being illegally handled or flytipped, leading to the prosecution of your business, as well as the flytipper.

* Explore options to reduce the amount of hazardous waste you produce.

The handling, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste is expensive.

However, hazardous waste minimisation (including substituting hazardous materials for non-hazardous materials) provides a real opportunity to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

The Envirowise Programme offers small businesses a free and confidential "fastrack" waste minimisation audit to get you started.

Envirowise advisors can help on a range of environmental issues, including hazardous waste (from 6 July).

Its Environment and Energy helpline is Freephone 0800 585794 (UK) or via the website www.envirowise.gov.uk.

Your trade association may also be able to provide advice.

* Budget for rising costs for the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste.

With more stringent treatment of hazardous waste and fewer places to dispose of it, costs for hazardous waste disposal are set to rise.

Overall, the estimated cost of managing hazardous wastes will rise from GBP 150m to GBP 500m per year.

* Keep up to date - recent changes have resulted in more waste becoming hazardous.

For some businesses this may mean that it will become a hazardous waste producer for the first time, as hazardous waste classification encompasses a broader range of equipment and materials than ever before.

Clear regulatory and good practice advice on environmental issues for small businesses, tailored for their industry sector, can be found at www.netregs.gov.uk.

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