The new Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 came into force on 16th July 2005, and made extensive changes to the various pieces of legislation already in place. The most important changes were:
- Many more wastes were now included in the hazardous category
- Any company producing such wastes was required to register with the Environment Agency
At the same time it was made an offence for any waste company to collect hazardous waste from a company that was not registered. Even if the production of waste is infrequent and the quantities relatively small, registration is still now essential*.
Red Industries can advise on whether or not any of the waste you produce is classed as hazardous, but you can examine the European Waste Catalogue by visiting www.environment-agency.gov.uk, where you will find that that items such as fridges, fluorescent tubes, oily rags and computer monitors are now included.
Registration
Any waste producer can register by post or by visiting www.environment-agency-gov.uk. This site also contains a guide to help you through the process.
It is required that each company re-registers on a yearly basis.
Each site producing hazardous waste has to have a separate registration although multiple sites can be registered on the same notification.
*Some sites are exempt if they expect to produce less than 200kgs of hazardous waste per year. The EA indicate that 200kgs is approximately 10 small TVs, 500 fluorescent tubes or 5 small domestic fridges
Procedure
A new style of consignment is now used in place of the old section 62.
Each consignment will require a fee to be paid to the EA by the consignee with their quarterly returns to the Agency.
A new-style consignment note must be used in place of the current Section 62. Each consignment will require a fee to be paid to the EA by the consignee with their quarterly returns to the Agency.
The Regulations ban the mixing of Hazardous waste and state that it must be stored separately on site. However, clarification on the interpretation of this is still awaited from the EA as it would, for instance, preclude the collection of computer systems that included a base unit and screen.
Fees are payable to the Environment Agency for each collection, and reports must be submitted to them by your waste collector on a regular basis. Such fees are incorporated into Red Industry charges and will be described to you on quotation**.
Registration as a Hazardous Waste producer places a statutory duty on the Environment Agency to inspect the site where the hazardous waste arises.
**There are a number of conditions and options that apply to the collection and disposal of hazardous waste, and significant savings can be made by identfying the most appropriate programme. As an integral part of the service, Red Industries will identify the most efficient and cost-effective disposal option in line with your corporate stategies.
