Health, Safety & Quality Consultancy
Introduction
With the introduction of the Waste (England & Wales) Regulations 2011 a number of changes have been made to the legal requirements concerning waste. There is also confusion with some duty holders of the legal requirements when removing waste from site operations.
What is controlled waste?
Controlled waste is any kind of household, commercial industrial or agricultural waste. It includes any waste from a house, shop, office, factory or any other trade or business premises. Such waste is controlled waste whether it is liquid or solid and it is not hazardous or toxic. (This is classed as hazardous waste).
Controlled waste includes:
• Unwanted surplus substances • Building or demolition waste • Anything that is disposed of as broken, worn out, contaminated or spoiled in some other way.
What is the Waste Hierarchy?
The revised Waste Framework Directive places a duty to ensure that waste is dealt with in the priority order of:
• Prevention • Preparing for reuse • Recycling • Other recovery (e.g. energy recovery) • Disposal
Whenever a waste transfer note is used, the dutyholder must sign to state that the waste hierarchy has been considered.
Do I require a Waste Carriers Licence?
A waste carrier’s licence is required when you transport any type of waste regularly as part of your business, or even some types of waste as a one off.
Waste removed from site installations is usually classed as ‘construction waste’. For this you will require an Upper Tier Waste Carriers Licence.
If you use sub-contractors to carry out site installations and they carry waste, they will require a Waste Carriers Licence even if the company they are working for has their own licence. Each individual company that carries waste will require a waste carriers licence.
There are some exceptions such as charity collections, the full list can be found on the Environment Agency’s website.
Do I need to complete a Waste Transfer Note?
Waste transfer notes are completed when waste is transferred from one person/company to another. For site installations where you are removing the waste yourself, the guidance obtained from the Environment Agency is:
Example 1
Removal of own waste (e.g. excess fixings, pipework etc that can be reused) after completing a site installation will not require a waste transfer note.
Example 2
Removal of an existing item/s (e.g. signage) where the work you have carried out has created the waste does not require a waste transfer note under current legislation but is strongly recommended in order to create an audit trail of the waste.
Example 3
Removal of supplies (e.g. paints) which are surplus to requirements but are not classed as waste as they can be used elsewhere, does not require a waste transfer note.
If any waste is taken away by another company, a waste transfer note is required.
Contravention of Waste Legislation
If a company does not have a Waste Carriers Licence and is caught transporting waste, a fine of up to £5000 can be imposed.