Waste Sepratists Outlaw mixed bins
Published January 18, 2008 at 1:40 pm · Filed under Features
British businesses are unprepared for new waste legislation that came into force in England and Wales on October 30 and are unaware that it could increase disposal costs, Taylor Intelligence has warned.
A YouGov survey commissioned by Taylor Intelligence (Recycling in UK plc - a State of the Workplace Report) found that only 17% of senior directors in SMEs and less than half (45%) of managers with environmental, facilities or office responsibilities within larger organisations were aware of the Producer Pre-Treatment Requirement of the European Landfill Directive.
Under the Requirement businesses will no longer be able to send mixed bins of waste to landfill without pre-treatment, but for the first time they will have to pre-treat non-hazardous waste, covering everything from food, paper and plastic, to bricks, wood and soil.
This can be done in one of two ways: recyclable business waste can be separately collected for recycling; or mixed waste can be collected by a waste contractor and taken to a sorting facility for a proportion of it to be removed for recycling.
Other acceptable forms of treatment include incineration at an approved facility, and chemical treatments.
The Pre-Treatment Requirement is intended to reduce the amount of non-hazardous waste going to landfill and to reduce the impact of waste when it is landfilled.
Taylor’s research revealed that 80% of SME directors and 55% of managers within larger organisations were not aware that if they don’t recycle they will have to pay their waste contractor to do the segregation for them leading to higher disposal costs.
Peter Selkirk, Chief Executive of Taylor, said: “To meet the waste pre-treatment requirements cost efficiently, the onus will be on companies to implement recycling schemes and segregate their own waste streams. If they don’t, the waste contractor will have to do it, which is expected at least to double the costs. And if the waste contractor doesn’t do it, the company in question is likely to be heavily penalised financially, although penalties have yet to be decided.”
He added: “Getting people to recycle is the Government’s biggest waste management issue and achieving participation means making the first ten feet work - that is encouraging employees to take waste to a container in the first place and putting the waste into the correct segregated container. Education is, and will be, vital. Companies will need to ensure that senior management are fully aware of the waste and recycling requirements and any shortfall in meeting them. All staff will also need to be made aware of their waste related obligations.”
Seven out of 10 SMEs have yet to introduce any of the measures designed to boost recycling that were listed in the survey. These include setting recycling targets, introducing staff education on recycling, awarding prizes for the best recycling department or floor, appointing a recycling/environmental manager or a manager with responsibility for recycling, or showing recycling performance as a KPI in monthly management reports or on notice boards.
The survey found that one third of the respondents who did not use a recycling collection service took their non-hazardous business waste home to recycle, which is technically illegal.
Further guidance on the Treatment of Non-Hazardous Wastes for Landfill can be found on the Environment Agency website
