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A Quick Guide to Waste Management What is waste management? Every year, 177 million tonnes of waste are produced in England alone. Waste is legally defined as ‘any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard’. For SMEs, this could include business waste (such as empty printer cartridges, packaging and paper); clinical waste (largely medical); controlled waste (anything requiring a waste management licence); or hazardous waste (more than 250 substances, including end-of-life vehicles, oil and batteries). Waste management refers to the processes used to deal with this waste: the collection, transportation and disposal of all waste products in compliance with health and environmental regulations.
Give me an example... Based in Fleet, near Spalding, P&R Plant Hire specialises in groundworks, civil engineering and plant hire. Working with SUSTAIN Lincolnshire, the business achieved savings of £12,000 through improved waste management. P&R hired a concrete crusher and sorting machine for 3 days, at a cost of £1,000. The equipment enabled a stockpile of concrete and other construction waste to be broken down and sorted into materials which could be used in P&R’s own projects- reducing raw material costs- while the remaining surplus was sold. The savings more than covered the cost of the equipment and as a result nearly 400 tonnes of waste was diverted from landfill.
What are the benefits for my business? Aside from environmental damage, poor use of resources can have financial and even legal consequences for businesses. Better waste management can help businesses to: Cut costs through lower waste disposal bills and reduced consumption of raw materials. According to WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), the UK hospitality sector alone could save £724 million each year by tackling food waste. Increase profit by turning waste into a resource- for example, crop waste could be sold as animal feed. Achieve efficient production practices- waste minimisation means more output of product from the raw materials supplied. Improve legislative compliance. Improve their image and reputation as a proactive, forward thinking organisation. Achieve ISO14001 or other environmental accreditation, in particular focussing on a shift from waste management to resource recovery.
What do I legally have to do? Over the last 25 years, waste management legislation has increased as governments have sought to reduce waste to landfill. Every business in England and Wales has a legal duty of care to ensure that their waste is produced, stored, transported and disposed of responsibly. This means: Classifying your waste, especially between hazardous and non-hazardous. The government has produced guidance to help businesses to identify hazardous waste: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ hazardous-waste-technical-guidance-wm2 Registering your premises if you produce or store hazardous waste. Obtaining a permit if your business stores, treats, transports or disposes of waste. Storing waste safely and securely.
Following government regulations for moving waste to another premises. Checking your waste collector is licensed and keeping proof of this, for example a copy of the licence. To prove that a business is fulfilling its duty of care, records must be held to document the movement of waste from production to disposal. A Waste Transfer Note needs to be completed when waste is transferred from one party to another. If you’re dealing with hazardous waste, a Hazardous Waste Consignment Note might also be needed. Both types of document need to be stored for two years and produced on demand to the Environment Agency or local authority. To help with record keeping, EDOC- a new, online system- has been developed: http://edoconline.co.uk/ Complying with waste management legislation is crucial- if a business ‘causes or permits pollution’, whether directly or indirectly, the owner can face prosecution.
Waste management hierarchy Waste management strategies are organised into a hierarchy of desirability. The hierarchy is based on the concept of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’the aim is to extract the maximum practical benefit from products, while minimising the amount of waste produced. Since 2011, UK law has stated that businesses ‘must take all such measures available to it as are reasonable in the circumstances to apply the waste hierarchy as a priority order’. For the full regulations, see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/988/cont ents/made
What else can I do? Consider how your business could move towards the higher end of the waste hierarchy: Prevention & minimisation: The most environmentally friendly, economically efficient and cost effective way to manage waste is to avoid creating it. This includes reducing waste in the manufacture and retail phases of the lifecycle of a product. Products should also be designed to be durable or reusable- for example, shopping bags made from cloth rather than plastic. Reuse & recycle: Materials exchange programmessuch as the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme- allow businesses to connect with potential users of unwanted waste materials. Alternatively, waste materials could be recycled into new products. Recycling Guide and Reduce the Use both give details of how to recycle a wide range of waste products. Energy recovery: The conversion of non-recyclable waste into heat, electricity or fuel- for example, through incineration or anaerobic digestion. The official information portal for anaerobic digestion provides details of facilities, funding and case studies: www.biogas-info.co.uk/ Disposal: Primarily landfill- a last resort and a costly option. Since its introduction in 1996, landfill tax has increased year on year and HMRC has announced that the current standard rate of £80 per tonne will not be reduced before 2020.
Zero Waste Week: 1st- 7th September
Zero Waste Week is an annual campaign to reduce waste as much as possible. It’s an ideal time to run a staff awareness campaigncontact SUSTAIN Lincolnshire for tips and ideas or visit www.zerowasteweek.co.uk
Is there any funding available? The Waste Prevention Loan Fund allows businesses to apply for loans of £20,000£100,000 to support the introduction of green business models and resource efficient processes. Find out more at www.wrap.org.uk/content/wplf. The Anaerobic Digestion Loan Fund offers loans of £50,000- £1 million for organisations creating new anaerobic digestion capacity. Visit www.wrap.org.uk/content/ad-loan-fund for more details. The eQuip WRAP Leasing Scheme provides financial assistance for SMEs in the recycling sector. For further information, visit www.wrap.org.uk/content/equip-leasingmade-easy-0
Where can I go for more information? The government recycling and waste management website contains details of businesses’ duty of care, how to classify waste and permit application forms:
www.gov.uk/browse/environmentcountryside/recycling-waste-management. The WRAP website www.wrap.org.uk provides tools and guides for SMEs to improve their waste management- for example, funding news, recycling case studies and a dedicated hospitality food waste section. www.reduce.org offers a paperless office toolkit. www.recycling-guide.org.uk/reduce.html and www.reducetheuse.co.uk/category/waste/wa ste-minimisation both provide details of how to minimise or recycle different types of waste. The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme is a network which identifies mutually profitable links betweens businesses so that waste can be reused elsewhere: www.nispnetwork.com
For further information, contact SUSTAIN Lincolnshire on 01522 837209 or
[email protected]. You can also visit our website www.sustainlincolnshire.com
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