What a waste

New regulations on hazardous materials are set to have a huge impact on every laboratory

From the 16th July you will be breaking the law if you dispose of hazardous waste without first registering with the Environment Agency as a Hazardous Waste Producer.

The new Hazardous Waste Regulations have been a long time in the making, but when they come into force most laboratories, along with a host of other companies in the UK, will be required to register with the Environment Agency. In addition to this, they will need to make sure they have a full understanding of their new responsibilities.

For the last 10 years the Environment Agency (EA) has had the task of licensing every company in the UK involved with the collection, handling, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste. By the end of last year over 10,000 companies had been licensed and about 2,000 of these handled hazardous waste. With mounting pressure from Europe, the EA is now tasked with registering an estimated 200,000 premises that are believed to generate hazardous waste in England and Wales. With the definitions of hazardous waste expanding to include computers, fluorescent tubes, batteries and televisions, virtually every commercial, industrial, and public building in the land will require a permit. The new Hazardous Waste Regulations require that this exercise be done by no later than the 16th July 2005. So tough are the new regulations that after the deadline no waste will be allowed to be collected from any premises that are not registered.

Throughout Europe there is a drive to reduce, reuse and recycle waste of every description, both domestically and in business. The big crackdown is on wastes considered hazardous. Of the 987 categories of waste listed in the European Waste Catalogue, 397 are considered potentially hazardous, either to health or the environment.

The UK regulations are the implementation of the European Hazardous Waste Directive 91/689/EC (HWD) and the European Waste Catalogue 200/532/EC (EWC). Currently these changes only affect premises in England and Wales.

As you would expect there is going to be a cost. The EA will be charging £15 to £23 per site for registration. There is no precise figure as yet as although this is certain to be law on the 16th July, the draft regulations have yet to be published.

Along with the need to register as a Hazardous Waste Producer other features of the impending regulations have been published.
· The term “special waste” will be forgotten, to be replaced with “hazardous waste”.
· Hazardous waste will not be allowed to be mixed with non-hazardous waste, in fact where technically and economically viable, by law, it must be segregated.
· Each quarter, your waste contractor will have to submit a return to the Agency detailing the quantity, type and destination of the waste they have collected from your premises and what has happened to it.
· On the spot fixed penalties will be awarded to any organisation, which makes a clerical mistake. Helpfully the EA, in recent guidance, have cited errors in dates, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes as good causes for punishment.

Few organisations will chose to pick their way through this new regulatory maze; for most this is an area for the specialists. However many waste companies may see this as a potential gravy train.
 
Fortunately Fisher Scientific has been keeping an eye on developments at DEFRA and the EA and in February introduced a unique new waste management service, entitled LabCare. Developed in conjunction with specialist waste recycling company WasteCare, the new service offers laboratories a simple way to manage all forms of waste while complying with the new regulations. This online service aims to eliminate the risks associated with the disposal of all types and quantities of laboratory waste at minimum cost.

Mr Martin Sylt of Fisher Scientific, says: “The Labcare service will collect, treat and recover all laboratory waste, including sharps, clinical, contaminated packaging, solvents, electrical equipment and laboratory chemicals. It will also provide customers with regulatory support and advice - taking the worry out of ensuring compliance.”
With the benefit of online quotations, ordering and the tracking of waste through to recovery, Fisher Scientific is delighted to also offer EA registration free to all its customers. It has announced that the registration is also available to non-customers for a modest fee of £10.”

The service is fully compliant with the new regulations, accredited to both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and is available to all labs in the UK - guaranteeing a response within five days of alerting LabCare of waste to be collected. It is also the first service to be available online.

Wastecare National Sales Manager, John Cundall, says: “It is clear that compliance with these regulations is imperative if fines are to be avoided. LabCare is exclusively a Fisher Scientific service but is open to everyone. The service combines our vast experience of hazardous waste recovery with Fisher Scientific’s knowledge of the laboratory sector. LabCare essentially provides a failsafe online solution for laboratories to ensure environmental compliance, where even small quantities of waste could become a major problem.”

Don’t struggle through the regulatory maze, for free registration or more information, visit www.fisher.co.uk/labcare.

John adds: “My advice to any laboratory is to deal with the matter now. Check what you need to do to comply with the regulations before the Environment Agency come knocking.”