An announcement is expected today from the government over the position of shredder residue (see letsrecycle.com story). Shredder operators say they are determined to stop work if their residue is considered hazardous.
For its part The Environment Agency is understood to be also standing firm on its view that shredder residue produced in the car recycing process has to be shown to be non-hazardous through accredited testing.
Ministers are believed to be considering the issue at present (July 16 am).
Also this morning, the Environment Agency confirmed that it has today closed down the King's Cliffe hazardous waste landfill site near Peterborough.
The action reduces the number of landfill sites available to take hazardous waste from today, which sees the ending of co-disposal in the UK.
For the waste management industry today marks a massive change in procedure with huge implications for industry. No longer can hazardous material be co-disposed of with non-hazardous material. Typically, until today, bonded asbestos garage roofing could be deposited at a landfill site and covered with non-hazardous household or commercial waste.
 Signs went up today to tell site users that hazardous waste was no longer accepted at most landfill sites in the UK |
As of this morning there were five sites with permits to take in hazardous waste although this figure now reduces to four with the closure of Atlantic. The other sites are at Purton, Port Clarence, Southwood, and Pinden Quarry.
The Environment Agency said that closure of the Atlantic site is expected to be a temporary measure “while the operator Atlantic Waste Ltd works with the Environment Agency to improve operating standards.”
And Agency statement added: “A pollution prevention and control permit, issued to the company in 2002, required Atlantic Waste, by 16 July 2004, to provide revised operating proposals, including an assessment of the likely impact of the site on groundwater. Atlantic Waste has not provided satisfactory proposals. Consequently, to comply with its permit, the company must cease taking waste.”
Priority
Environment Agency spokesman John Sweeney said: “The Environment Agency's top priority is to protect the environment and prevent the site causing harm to human health by ensuring it is operated in compliance with its PPC permit. We are doing all we can to help the operators and their consultants produce the required information to a satisfactory standard.”
There are five landfill sites which have waste management licences and engineering in place and these will be allowed to take waste if their permit is not issued today. They are: Eardswick Hall Whitemoss Randle Wingmoor
Two other sites are appealing against a permit refusal but are allowed to take mateiral in the interim. One further site, owned by Waste Recycling Group at Winterton, Lincolnshire, is expected to receive a permit soon and could take hazardous material next week.
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