Your Green Responsibilities

1
Your Green Responsibilities

• Alan Cansdale
• Environment Agency

2
Overview

• Our Role
• Legislation update
• Duty of Care
• Legislation in the pipeline
• Help available

3
Who are We?

• The largest Environmental Regulator
• in England and Wales
• 1billion spent every
• year improving your
• environment

4
Our Role

• Its our job to look after your environment
• and make it a
• better place for
• you, and for future
• generations

5
Legislation Update
6
Pre-treatment of waste to landfill

• From 30th October 2007
• non-hazardous waste
• going to landfill must be
• treated
• European wide
• Requirement in the
• Landfill Directive

7
Aims

• Increase waste recovery
• and recycling
• Minimise the
• environmental impact
• of landfills
• Wean us off landfills

8
Who does it apply to?

• Businesses producing
• waste
• Landfill operators
• Waste collectors and
• other holders

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What does treatment mean?

• Physical, thermal, chemical or biological
• processes (including sorting)
• That change the characteristics of the waste
• In order to reduce its volume, hazardous nature,
• facilitate its handling, or enhance recovery

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Examples of treatment

• Collecting waste streams separately to recycle
• one or more of the separate components
• Biological treatment such as composting or
• anaerobic digestion
• Thermal treatment such as incineration

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Waste Producers

• Treat your own waste
• and provide information
• for subsequent holders
• or
• Ensure that the waste will be treated by a
• subsequent holder before it is landfilled

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Paperwork
13
Our Enforcement Position

• We appreciate that new
• rules take time to work
• For now, we will not take
• enforcement action
• unless there is a risk to
• the environment or to
• human health

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Waste Pyramid

• Avoid
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Dispose

15
The WEEE Regulations

• Full requirements in force
• from 1 July 2007
• Waste Electrical and Electronic
• Equipment
• Dependent on electrical current
• or electromagnetic fields in order
• to fulfil its primary function

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The WEEE Problem

• 2 million tonnes of WEEE
• discarded in UK each year
• WEEE is the fastest growing
• waste stream in the UK
• Expanding by 3 x rate of
• general waste each year

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Aims

• More sustainable use of
• resources
• Higher treatment standards
• Diverting more waste from landfill
• More recovery and recycling
• Protecting human and animal
• health and the environment

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Key requirements

• Obligations on producers and retailers
• Separate collection of WEEE
• Reuse of WEEE as whole appliances
• Standards for its treatment at authorised
  facilities
• Collection, recycling and recovery targets
• Producers of EEE responsible for financing most
• of these activities

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Producers of EEE

• You are a producer if you manufacture,
• import, re-brand EEE or place EEE in
• other European Members States by
• means of distance selling

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Producer Requirements

• Join an approved Producer Compliance Scheme
• (PCS) and they will register you as a Producer
• See www.environment-agency.gov.uk/weee for a
• full list of approved Producer Compliance Schemes
• You will be given a producer registration number
• Give your registration number to your distributor
  
• when you sell EEE

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Mark your Products

• Mark all goods with the crossed out
• wheeled bin symbol (since 1 April 07)
• This will help separate WEEE from
• other waste streams
• Show if produced after 13 August 2005 (thick bar)

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Provide information

• To your PCS on the types and quantity of EEE
• placed on UK market
• To treatment facilities to aid effective
  treatment,
• recycling and re-use ie. location of any
• hazardous substances
• Provide producer registration to distributors

23
Retain Records

• Of amounts of EEE placed on the UK Market,
• broken down by compliance category and
• household or non-household
• Of sales direct to end users
• in other Member States
• Keep all records for 4 years

24
Collection and Treatment of WEEE

• You are financially responsible for collecting,
  treating,
• recovering and disposing of an equivalent amount
  of
• WEEE according to the amount of EEE you produce
• You must arrange and meet the cost of
  dismantling,
• recovery, reuse and recycling of WEEE
• Make sure WEEE only taken to an Approved
  Authorised
• Treatment Facility (AATF)
• Your producer compliance scheme can do this for
  you

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Making your own arrangements

• For collection, treatment and recycling of your
• WEEE you must provide evidence to your PCS
• You can only get
• evidence from AATFs
• and approved exporters

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Household WEEE Obligations

• Producers are responsible for
• A proportion of the WEEE
• arising in each category in which
• they place EEE on the UK market
• The proportion is calculated according to
• the market share. The PCS will do this

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Non-Household WEEE obligations

• Producers are responsible for
• All EEE placed on market
• by you on or after 13 August 2005
• WEEE placed on the market before
• 13 August 2005 (historic WEEE), regardless of
• the producer, if it is being replaced by
  equivalent
• new EEE provided by you.

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Good Practice

• Improve the reusability and recyclability of EEE
  
• As part of product design
• By providing information to aid dismantling
• This will save you treatment and disposal costs

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Distributors and Retailers

• You are a distributor if
• you sell EEE to end users.
• This includes retailers,
• wholesalers, mail order
• and internet sales.

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Distributor obligations

• Make sure your EEE producers provide
• their producer registration number
• Obligations for household WEEE
• Set up a Take Back Scheme for your customers
• to dispose of WEEE free of charge
• No obligation to take back WEEE from
• non-household users

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Take-back Schemes

• In-store take back scheme
• to accept all types of EEE
• you sell
• Join Distributor Take-back
• Scheme run by Valpak

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Information to Customers

• Environmental impacts of EEE and WEEE
• Reasons for separating WEEE from other waste
• Meaning of the crossed out wheeled bin symbol
• The benefits of take-back schemes
• Your arrangements for customers to deposit
• WEEE free of charge

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Duty of Care
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Duty of Care

• Who does it apply to?
• Anyone who produces or imports, keeps or stores,
• transports, treats or disposes of controlled
  waste
• It also applies if you act as a broker and
  arrange
• these things
• Controlled waste is any kind of household,
  commercial
• or industrial waste

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What do you need to do?

• Keep the waste secure. Keep it in a suitable
• container.
• If you give the waste to someone else, check that
• they have authority to take it.
• If you pass the waste to another person you
• must give them a written description of the
  waste.
• You must also fill in and sign a transfer note.

36
A Look to the Future
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Site Waste Management Plans

• Likely to be a legal requirement in April 2008
• Likely to affect construction projects costing
• more than 250,000
• Typically it will identifiy what sort of wastes
  will
• be produced how they will be managed and
• who will manage the waste
• Should save you money and the environment

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Environmental Permitting Regulations

• Will streamline the waste management
• licensing and pollution prevention and control
• regimes from April 2008
• Should drastically reduce the amount of
• guidance and forms used
• Should be easier, cheaper and quicker to use

39
EU Batteries Directive

• Aims to make businesses that produce
• and sell batteries responsible for collecting
• and recycling spent batteries.
• It will apply to nearly all batteries and
• accumulators regardless of composition.
• Likely to come into force after September 2008

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Help Available
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Environment Agency

• Call 08708 506 56
• E-mail enquiries_at_environment-agency.gov.uk
• Website www.environment-agency_at_gov.uk
• Waste Recycling Directory at
• www.wasterecycling.org.uk/?lang_e

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NetRegs

• www.netregs.gov.uk
• Website with free guidance on what you need
• to do to comply with Environmental legislation
• E-alerts. Sign up to receive email updates
• on the latest environmental news relevant
• to your business

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New Construction Helpline

• 0845 601 22 33
• Dedicated to Construction Companies in SE
• FREE advice from experts (9am 5pm)
• Anonymous
• Nearly half of construction companies asked
  prefer
• to use a phoneline for environmental advice