The Agency records the type, amount, origin and destination of every load of special waste in England and Wales and is now making this information available in the hope that hazardous waste will be better managed.
The Agency has made the special waste database available in the form of a booklet and CD-ROM called the Hazardous Waste Interrogator, which covers the year 1998-99.
The database is one of a series of documents the Agency is producing which makes information more readily available to companies as part of its vision of a “greener business world”.
The interactive database includes information on waste types, production, disposal and recovery for key consignments of special waste in England and Wales. It shows that 4.8 million tonnes of special waste were consigned for disposal, recovery or transfer in England and Wales in 1998-99.
The publication also contains data on the amount of special waste produced in the planning regions and local authority districts and shows that the largest volumes of waste were identified as “oil & water mixtures” and “construction & demolition waste”, each accounting for 21% of the total. The regions producing the most special waste were North West and London, each with nearly 700,000 tonnes (14%).
Waste management companies and producers of special waste will be able to use the database to extract information and can also download data in a spreadsheet form for further analysis.
Terry Coleman, the Agency’s waste strategy manager, said: “The Environment Agency’s special waste database maintains records of the type, amount, origin and destination of every load of special waste in England and Wales. We wanted to make these data available in a way that would improve the management of hazardous waste without releasing commercially confidential information. We believe the resulting Hazardous Waste Interrogator is the most flexible and comprehensive tool of its kind in Europe.”
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