In July 2005, the Government introduced a number of important changes to the Hazardous Waste Regulations, upgrading spent fluorescent tubes, sodium lamps, computer monitors and TV’s to hazardous waste.
Disposal of these items is hazardous as it releases harmful phosphor dust and toxic mercury vapour.
If your business uses fluorescent or sodium lighting, runs computer or TV equipment, it is therefore now considered a producer of hazardous waste.
Under the regulations, producers of hazardous waste can no longer dispose of these items along with general waste. To do so is illegal, and leaves your organisation open to court proceedings with fines of up to £5,000 and £300 on-the-spot fines.
In addition, hazardous waste such as lamps, computer and TV equipment can only be stored on unlicensed premises for a maximum period of twelve months. Storing the waste beyond this time is a further offense.
All producers must register annually with the Environment Agency (EA) before they can dispose of hazardous waste. The EA now advises recycling companies to check that the premises they collect from are registered. If they're not, the carrier should refuse to take the waste and report the premises to the EA.
You must also be able to demonstrate that you have transferred all hazardous waste to an authorised third party or risk prosecution by the EA. The most critical proof of this is the Hazardous Waste Consignment Note. It is this note that effectively transfers your responsibility for disposal of the waste to an accredited third party, and provides onward accountability for the waste producer as required by the new regulations.
Firms such as Recyclite, which have to be licensed by the EA, will deliver special containers in which the hazardous waste can be stored and will collect them when the units are full. They have a waste carrier’s licence, enabling them to move the material from the producer’s premises and to issue the Hazardous Waste Consignment Note to the waste producer.
As part of Recyclite’s nationwide service, the company provides cradle-to-grave documentation of the movement of hazardous waste. As consignees, Recyclite maintains the detailed records necessary to provide the quarterly disposal and recovery information required by the Environment Agency.
Recyclite’s Managing Director, Julia Ingleson, says that this is the safest and most cost effective route for the vast
majority of small businesses - hazardous waste disposal is not a core business for them:
Confidence that they are complying with
the law and fulfilling their own best practice policies, would suggest that the outsourcing of hazardous waste disposal to specialist professional facilities should be one of their easier business decisions.
Lamp Recycling
