Hazardous Waste

Over five million tonnes of hazardous waste is produced each year in England and Wales, half of which is disposed of in landfill sites. However, new legislation means that it is no longer possible to dispose of hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste.

Waste is hazardous when it contains substances or has properties that might be or make it harmful to human health or the environment.

The term 'hazardous' does not always mean that the such waste is immediately toxic, though some can be. By improving the way in which we manage all waste classified as hazardous we reduce the risk they might pose now and in the future.

Up until now the term hazardous waste has included substances such as chemicals, asbestos and other toxic materials. However, the European Commission has recently revised its list of hazardous wastes and incorporated these revisions into the European Waste Catalogue, which defines all waste by type.

The revised list includes things not previously considered to be hazardous. Some examples of these include:

• Fluorescent tubes
• Televisions and computer monitors
• Scrap cars
• Batteries

The changes became effective in England and Wales in summer 2005.

For a long time hazardous and non-hazardous wastes have been co-disposed of into landfill (put in the same hole in the ground). This mixing of waste could cause long term damage to the environment and also has the potential for different types of waste to react with each other.

The Landfill Directive, which came into force on the 16th July 2005 bans co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. Therefore hazardous wastes will need to be collected and disposed of seperately. This is a big change in the way we manage waste in the UK. The tighter controls mean taking positive steps to reduce the risk to human health and the environment.  

We do not handle hazardous trade waste. However there are a number of private waste management contractors advertised in local directories.