Hazardous Waste

Hazardous Waste Regulations

These Regulations aim to control and track the movement of hazardous waste, to ensure waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health or causing harm to the environment.

Hazardous waste is regulated separately across the UK by each country, with slightly different requirements depending on where you are operating. There are much tighter legal controls than for non-hazardous waste.

What are the requirements?

On top of having to meet duty of care obligations, businesses must have procedures in place to ensure waste is stored safely and separately to non-hazardous waste.

Before waste leaves a premises a hazardous or special waste consignment note must be generated. These are a legal requirement and contain information about where waste has come from, where it is going and who is moving it.

Also, the co-disposal of hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste at the same landfill site is now prohibited; therefore, businesses are now required to ensure that their waste meets Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). This means that basic characterisation of waste at an early stage is essential.

How to comply

First and foremost a business needs to find out if the waste they handle is defined as hazardous. The Regulators have produced a list of definitions and interpretations in their technical guidance, and the Hazardous Waste List, which can be found in the European Waste Catalogue, which is used for classifying all waste in Europe.

Penalties for non-compliance

When hazardous waste isn’t handled correctly, businesses are breaking the law.

Failure to comply with the Regulations may lead to failed inspections during routine audits by the relevant environmental agencies. Failed inspections are not only costly to businesses due to the fines they incur, but they can severely damage a business’s reputation and even result in prison sentences.