Legislation

 

Legislation originally focused on the disposal of waste, but has now extended to include the storage, treatment, recycling and transport of waste.

The Directive on Waste (75/442/EEC, as amended by Directive 91/692/EEC)  requires that anyone who treats, keeps, deposits or disposes of waste needs a waste management licence (unless exempt or excluded), which is issued by the Environment Agency. Waste management licences include conditions relating to operations at the site and the Environment Agency monitors activities to ensure compliance with the licence conditions. A key objective of the licensing system is to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health and without using processes or methods which harm the environment.

It is also an offence to transport controlled waste unless registered with the Environment Agency and all authorised persons have to hold a registered carriers licence.

On the 30th October 2007, the Pre-treatment requirements of the Landfill Regulations came into force which meant that no waste is be able to be disposed of to landfill unless it can be demonstrated to have undergone a treatment process. It is likely that this will mean a reduction in weight by removing a proportion of the waste for recycling, whether at source through a separate recycling collection or at a sorting facility.

Cutts Recycling continues to work with their customers in order to develop recycling and waste minimisation solutions which show that their customers comply with the new legislation. 

Producer Responsibility

This means that the chain of production and supply has to take account of the overall environmental impact of their products becoming waste rather than it being left to the last holder or consumer to carry the entire cost.

The Producer Responsibility Regulations obligates business to certify that any packaging they are disposing of is treated inline with environmentally sound procedures, through recycling and recovery rather than being disposed of at landfill. Retailers are also obliged to inform their customers how they are increasing recovery and recycling rates.

Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC)

This aims to obligate European Union member states to meet targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste. The Directive places the emphasis on ensuring manufactures design packaging that can be recycled as well as targeting the minimisation of packaging volume and weight.

Directive on the Landfill of Waste (1999/31/EC)

This aims to improve standards of landfilling by setting specific requirements for the design, operation and aftercare of landfills, and for the types of waste that can be accepted at landfill sites. It set specific targets concerned with the reduction in the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) being landfilled

• by 2010 to reduce BMW landfilled to 75% (by weight) of that produced in 1995
• by 2013 to reduce BMW landfilled to 50% (by weight) of that produced in 1995
• by 2020 to reduce BMW landfilled to 35% (by weight) of that produced in 1995

The Landfill Regulations also categorises waste into 20 main groups and approximately 900 codes. These codes have to be used to describe waste on transfer notes produced in accordance with the Duty of Care.