New waste regulations come into force today, 29th September 2011, which are set to affect how we deal with waste. The waste hierarchy is part of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 changes that came into force earlier this year. As a producer of waste you will be required to apply the new ‘Waste Hierarchy’ before disposing of any waste. The hierarchy options that businesses should consider before classifying as waste are as follows in priority order;
1. Prevention
2. Preparing for re-use
3. Recycling
4. Recovery
5. Disposal
The process means that a company should check what originally creates the waste and could it be prevented in the first place? If not could it be reused at all? Then if not it needs to be recycled or recovered with disposal as a last resort. Upon any waste transfer notes, companies will be required to sign a declaration that the waste hierarchy was been applied.
The reason for the change in regulations is to assist the strict landfill targets set by the EU, which the UK government is obliged to meet. The revised framework will enable organisations to work towards achieving a more sustainable environment by considering their waste outputs and tracing back to the point of origin itself.
Pure Planet Recycling encourage our customer to adopt the hierarchy and will provide help and guidance where needed. We have already adopted the declaration for the waste heir achy onto our transfer notes and will be educating customers further on our collections.
If you have any questions regarding the waste hierarchy, please contact us on 01234 315496.
