"There are many easy ways to treat waste and deliver real environmental improvements. If you are a waste producer, now is a good time to review how you manage your waste, including whether it needs to be produced at all. If your waste does go to landfill, check to see if it is already being treated. If it isn't you will need to treat it or ensure that your waste management company does this for you"
Liz Parkes, Head of Waste at the Environment Agency
New guidance has been issued on the requirement for non-hazardous waste treatment prior to landfilling, as required by the Landfill Directive. Waste pre-treatment comes into effect on 30 October 2007.
The guidance has been published by the Environment Agency and is designed to help business and industry meet the changes to landfill regulations which come into play later this year.
To explain what needs to be done, the Environment Agency has been working with members of the waste industry and waste producers on this new two-part guidance, titled "Treatment of non hazardous wastes for landfill".
Part A of the guidance explains the requirements of the regulations and part B provides suggested methods for industry on how certain wastes should be dealt with.
What does treatment mean?
Treatment can be defined according to a ‘three-point test’ advises the Environment Agency.
All of the three criteria must be satisfied for all of the waste to have been treated:
1. It must be a physical, thermal, chemical or biological process including sorting.
2. It must change the characteristics of the waste.
3. It must do so in order to:
- reduce its volume; or
- reduce its hazardous nature; or
- facilitate its handling; or
- enhance recovery.
The Agency considers that treatment is good for the environment as it helps to identify and separate wastes that can be recycled and reduce the impact that the waste has when it is landfilled.
In the case of non-hazardous waste, there are no standards or limit values (waste acceptance criteria) to which waste must be treated before it can be landfilled. Much waste that is produced is already treated before landfilling. In these cases the Environment Agency considers that no further treatment is necessary. An example here is that of municipal waste which is already the subject of strict requirements for sorting and recycling.
The Environment Agency intends to apply the new requirements in a fair and proportionate way. The organisation will concentrate on advising waste producers of the need to adapt their waste management practice and point out the opportunity it presents to improve their environmental performance.
For the waste management industry the main focus will be on improving management systems and waste acceptance procedures across the sector rather than prosecuting individual operators.
Waste producers
The Agency advises that if you are a waste producer, you can either treat the waste and provide information about this for later holders of the waste; or alternatively ensure that a later holder will treat the waste before it is landfilled.
A producer does not have to treat the waste itself as the service can be bought in. The decision is for individual producers. The Agency considers it good practice to complete a written declaration stating:
- whether the waste has been treated
- the type of treatment that has occurred (if any); and
- if relevant, the amount of waste sorted out for recovery or alternative treatment.
An example written declaration is provided in the Environment Agency guidance.
Landfill operators
Landfill operators need to ensure that waste is treated before acceptance at a landfill site. There are various options for checking whether waste has been treated, according to the Agency, and these are provided in the guidance including advanced discussion with producers and contractors, visual inspection, and auditing.
Environment Agency comments
Liz Parkes, Head of Waste at the Environment Agency, said:
"From 30th October 2007, new rules mean waste must be treated before it is disposed of at a landfill site. At the same time, liquid waste will be banned from any landfill.
"Waste treatment is good for the environment, as it encourages the recycling of waste and reduces the impact of the waste we send to landfill. Much of the waste we send to landfill is already treated, however for some wastes more effort is needed. Treatment can simply be separating the waste on site, and recycling one or more of the separated components."
Ms Parkes added:
"There are many easy ways to treat waste and deliver real environmental improvements. If you are a waste producer, now is a good time to review how you manage your waste, including whether it needs to be produced at all. If your waste does go to landfill, check to see if it is already being treated. If it isn't you will need to treat it or ensure that your waste management company does this for you."
"It’s also an ideal opportunity for waste producers and landfill operators to discuss how they need to adapt to these changes and take more responsibility for their waste. We will continue to encourage this dialogue as these new rules bed in after October. Rather than having our staff standing at the entrance to landfill sites checking individual loads, our focus will be on helping business to improve the way they manage their waste."
Where can guidance be found
The new guidance for pre-treatment of waste is available to download at the Environment Agency website.
Guidance on how to deal with liquid waste following the landfill ban will be published in the coming weeks.
A potted summary is provided by the Environment Agency in a waste briefing note.