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Hazardous waste
Hazardous waste regulations 2005
For England and Wales, hazardous waste is dealt with under the Hazardous Waste Regulations (recently amended under the Amendment Regulations 2009 which imposes the 500kg exemption threshold).
Any business that generates waste classed as ‘Hazardous’ under the European Waste Catalogue (EWC) must register as a hazardous waste producer with the Environment Agency before they can have hazardous waste collected from their site.
However where a site produces less that 500kgs per year, it does not need to register and can have its hazardous waste collected without a registration number.
Hazardous waste includes things that you would naturally expect to be hazardous – such a certain sludges or chemical waste from refining processes. But it also includes waste that arises in every day business activity.
These include:
- Fluorescent tubes
- Cathode ray tube televisions and monitors
- LCD screens and laptops (see EA Guidance Note)
- CFC containing fridges and freezers
- Certain types of batteries
- Mineral oil or oil soaked rags and cleaners
If your business premises produces this type of waste, you CANNOT put it in the general waste bin and must have it separately collected.
As the producer, consignor or holder of hazardous waste you are responsible for filling in a standard consignment note before the waste can be removed from your site.