Devolved Hazardous Waste Regulations
Devolved Hazardous Waste Regulations
Wendy Rayner MCIWM MIHEEM & Dave Dingle MSC, MRSC, CChem, MCIWM
Environmental Consultant Environmental Controller
The management of Hazardous Waste in the UK is changing in order to incorporate the requirements of the European Hazardous Waste Directive 91/689/EC. Separate Regulations are being introduced in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England reflecting each administration’s devolved powers with respect to environmental regulation. SMDSA and its Members have actively participated in the consultation processes throughout the UK and will be able to provide specific advice and support. This section summarises the main changes in each part of the UK and identifies additional guidance which can be downloaded directly from the SMDSA web site
Scotland
The Special Waste Regulations 1996 were amended by The Special Waste Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004. Scotland was the first part of the UK to amend its Regulations as these came into force on the 1st July 2004. The new Regulations do not affect the current consignment system and there should be no reason to change existing procedures. However the main thrust of the amendment was to replace the definition of special waste with one referring to hazardous waste as defined by the EC Directive. This is now mirrored by the new Regulations in England and Wales and details of exactly which healthcare wastes are classified as hazardous for the UK forms the subject of the next SMDSA newsletter. The SEPA web site includes a section of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) with useful advice and provides guidance on the consignment and regulation of Special Waste in Scotland.
Download a guide to consigning Special Waste in Scotland from our web site.
Northern Ireland
The Department of Environment (DOE) Northern Ireland is currently drafting new Regulations. The consultation closed on the 25th March 2005 and Special Waste (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations are expected within the next few months.
The consultation document can still be viewed on the SMDSA or DOE (NI) web sites
At this stage, their proposals are to adopt the same system as Scotland retaining existing consignment procedures and updating the definition of special waste to include all hazardous waste within the EC definition.
Wales
The Welsh Assembly Government is due to release new Regulations in the next few weeks. The new Welsh Regulations are believed to be virtually identical to the English Regulations and will also be Hazardous Waste Regulations. Other than the fact that separate Regulations are required for Wales, the England and Wales systems should be identical, and are intended to run in parallel with the same systems, regulated by the Environment Agency for both England and Wales.
Further guidance can be obtained from the SMDSA or Welsh Assembly Government web sites.
England
The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 and associated List of Wastes (England) Regulations 2005 have recently been published. Despite their title the new Regulations apply primarily to England (other than amendments to the Environmental Protection Act 1990) with separate Regulations being produced in Wales as described above. The new Regulations introduce what is largely a completely new management regime for hazardous waste.
What does this mean in practice?
Generally these different changes in legislation will only affect producers, consignors or carriers of hazardous waste if they are moving waste between the different Countries in the UK. In that case procedures may have to be amended to reflect the requirements of more than one Consignment Note and charging system. In general, contractors moving the waste will be the ones who will deal with this and will be able to advise producers. This aspect of the Regulations will be covered in more detail in our next Newsletter. However nothing in these regulations will prevent waste being transported across Boundaries between the different parts of the UK where that is necessary to ensure appropriate management and disposal. Regulations specifically refer to consignment notes produced in one part of the UK being recognised in other parts to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Is your waste Hazardous?
Guidance on the definition and classification of hazardous waste is provided by a joint Agencies guidance document entitled WM2. Copies of the guidance document can be downloaded from any of the UK Environmental Regulators web sites (EA, SEPA or EHS) or by contacting their offices directly. Hygiene waste is not classified as a Hazardous Waste and is not listed in WM2. However, healthcare waste is included and there are a number of changes introduced by the new guidance affecting the way that waste is defined and classified. New hazardous wastes include dental amalgam, fluorescent tubes, cathode ray tubes (e.g. Televisions and PC monitors) and others. The status of prescription only medicines (POMs) as special waste has changed, with only cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines now being classed as hazardous. The interpretation for infectious waste is changed, but remains under debate with Government and Regulatory Agencies. Further guidance on the management of hazardous healthcare waste is expected, including the rewritten ‘The Safe Management of Healthcare Waste’ to be released later this year and the issues concerning the classification of healthcare wastes and whether or not they are hazardous will be featured in our next newsletter.
