SMDSA secures Agency concessions and derogations

Steady persistence in discussions with senior managers at the Environment Agency has finally paid off with the SMDSA recently securing a number of important concessions and derogations that will ease the burden on its member companies and the wider industry.

Potentially high direct costs in some areas have been largely avoided which, together with the accompanying administrative costs could have seen an unjustifiable rise in the price paid by customers for some services.

Disposal of Aerosol canisters from washroom servicing

A Problem Aired …

In late 2006, Albany Washroom Services (a long term SMDSA Member) was approached by a local Environment Agency officer during a routine inspection of their waste transfer station regarding the collection and disposal of spent aerosols from servicing.

Albany Washroom Services, in common with other SMDSA members provide automatic air freshener services to commercial premises, which use an electronically controlled aerosol to provide measured bursts of fragrances into the working environment.  The company replaces the aerosol and batteries at each scheduled service visit.

Since the banning of CFCs, the propellant contained in many aerosols is butane, a flammable gas, and when the aerosol is changed, the partially empty canister may become a hazardous waste for disposal due to the flammable nature of the residue.

As a hazardous waste the ‘nominally empty’ canister would need to be consigned from the customer to a licensed facility for disposal.  The Albany transfer station was not licensed for hazardous waste and the Agency officer suggested that the company would need to apply for a modification to its licence (at a cost of £7500) and should be consigning these aerosols.  In addition the company would also need to pay for the site manager to upgrade their Certificate of Technical Competence in order to cover hazardous waste and an increased subsistence cost.

Faced with an initial bill of about £15,000 plus the cost of administering the consignments and with the expectation that they would have to charge the client an additional £10-15 per visit or up to £200 per year, Albany’s Sales Director, Barry Marsham, contacted the SMDSA for help.

The Picture Unfolds …

It soon became apparent that the implications for the industry were far reaching.  The industry generally had returned spent aerosols from servicing to their service depots and then designated them as waste and consigned them onward for disposal.  The situation is likely to affect many other service industries where waste is produced as a result of providing a service to a client away from the depot, such as mobile car or machinery servicing, builders, double glazing, pest control, and the vending industry. 

Many of these wastes are also hazardous – oil, asbestos lining, fluorescent tubes, pesticides and contaminated vermin, lead acid batteries, paints, adhesives and other aerosols are similarly returned to unlicensed depots for later disposal.

Many hygiene and washrooms service companies also do not operate or require waste transfer stations, but Albany had been identified as part of a routine inspection of their licensed facility whereas many of the other operations above fall below the Agency’s ‘radar’.

A survey of SMDSA members indicated an estimated 3 million aerosol canisters from servicing air fresheners each year with about 2 million separate consignments effected.  If these were all consigned back to the depots the cost of consignment fees paid to the Environment Agency could be £20M – three times the Agency’s own previous estimate for the total revenue from hazardous waste consignment notes.

Practical Solutions

The SMDSA and Albany entered a process of discussion with management in the policy section of the Agency on the basis that:

• If the aerosol canisters were left with the client, the majority would be likely to be incorrectly dispersed into the commercial waste stream for landfill, whereas collecting them together by service providers created a sufficient quantity to enable economic recovery and recycling or controlled treatment and removes them from landfill.
• The cost of 2 million ‘internal’ consignment fees would serve as an impediment to recovery or recycling opportunities.
• The generation of over 2 million consignment notes where the contractor is simultaneously producer, carrier, and disposer served no useful purpose providing that the required information remained available for audit or inspection.
• The requirement for every washroom service provider to obtain a Waste Management License (or amend their existing license) was wholly disproportionate regulation to the risk and further impedes recovery or recycling.

Following careful consideration of all the implications, the Agency have agreed:

• That exemption 28 in Schedule 3 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations may be used instead of applying for a license i.e.

The storage of returned goods that are waste, and the secure storage of returned goods that are hazardous waste, pending recovery or disposal, for a period not exceeding one month, by their manufacturer, distributor or retailer.

Companies may register this exemption by telephoning the Agency’s Helpdesk on 08708 506 506.

• To add this waste stream to the derogation from payment of consignment fees such that only a single consignee return fee shall be payable each quarter.
  - see 'Different rules for specific waste streams' at the following link:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waste/1019330/1217981/1411674/?version=1&lang=_e

• That consignment notes do not have to follow the standard Agency format but may be in another format achieved by adapting existing paperwork or electronic system providing the same information can be provided to the Agency in an intelligible form.

This has made a huge difference for Albany and will similarly benefit the many companies who provide hygiene and washrooms services in England and Wales, and SMDSA offers their thanks to the Agency officers who helped to find practical solutions that will now benefit both the environment and industry.  The adjoining articles demonstrate how SMDSA member companies have now completed the chain by investing in leading technologies to safely treat aerosol canisters with total recovery and recycling of the components.

What is not covered

The above applies only to the movement of aerosols from servicing in washrooms etc back to the contractors depot.  It does not apply to the collection and disposal of waste aerosols from other sources or the onward movement to treatment or disposal; both or which must comply in full with all aspects of the Regulations.

The concessions and derogations been agreed with the Environment Agency in England and Wales.  Since the equivalent Regulations are different in Scotland and Northern Ireland, SMDSA will now be approaching the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland to seek similar practical solutions.

Treatment of Healthcare wastes for landfill

SMDSA has worked with the Environment Agency to develop a fact sheet on ‘Treating Offensive or Hygiene Wastes for Landfill’.  It is designed to provide simple guidance to enable producers of eg nappies, feminine hygiene, animal bedding, dog faeces, and incontinence wastes to meet the pre-treatment requirements for landfill from 30 October 2007.

SMDSA has sought to encourage best practice in the collection and disposal of hygiene wastes by promoting segregation at source rather than having these wastes put in black bags.

Although the Agency tried to withdraw a longstanding agreement with the industry accepting the use of germicides in eg feminine hygiene sanitary bins as meeting the pre-treatment requirements, the SMDSA has successfully argued that the Environment Agency had not provided any justification for the withdrawal of this agreement.  In consequence, the use of germicides in sanitary bins continues to meet the requirements for landfill where they are effective in reducing nuisance (for example odour).

However, the Agency are considering carrying out further research to explore the effectiveness of these agents, although it has yet to propose a test regime or to agree the criteria that should be met.

Future dialogue with the Environment Agency

A key outcome of lengthy discussions between the Environment Agency and SMDSA (representing the industry) has been an agreement to schedule further regular meetings to address future issues and matters of policy by working closer together. 

The Agency have acknowledged that this sector may have been overlooked by them in the past, often unaware of the challenges and problems that have taken place over last couple of years.  SMDSA members now represent an annual income for the Environment Agency of over £5.5M and as a major stakeholder in the sector are encouraged by the development of a positive and open relationship with the Environment Agency.

Martin Foulser – Secretary, SMDSA