The ESA, which represents the UKs waste management sector, today said that while its members have invested to offer services “up the waste hierarchy” too much material is being treated lower down the chain such as to landfill and that some “illegal” practices may also be happening. And, it considers that overall the governments hazardous waste strategy issued in 2010 is not working.
It singles out contaminated soils treatment as one area where it considers ‘sham recovery’ may be taking place.
The concerns are raised in a report published today Raising standards, Making Defras hazardous waste strategy a reality. In the document the ESA calls on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency to ensure hazardous waste is treated in more advanced processes, for regulations to be more tightly enforced and for better collection of data.
Commenting on the report, Alex Gazulla of hazardous waste specialist Tradebe and who is also chairman of the ESAs hazardous waste strategy group, said: “The governments 2010 Strategy for hazardous waste management says all the right things, and ESA members are fully behind it. But there is evidence that it is not taking effect on the ground, and that some of the UKs hazardous waste is not being handled at state of the art facilities, as the Strategy intended. This undermines the investment ESA member companies have made in best available technologies for dealing with hazardous wastes, and if unchecked could pose risks to the environment.”
The ESA report makes four main recommendations:
• Stronger promotion and enforcement of the Waste Hierarchy Guidance for hazardous waste
• A review by the Environment Agency of permits for hazardous waste treatment to ensure they reflect Best Available Technology (BAT)
• Better data on hazardous waste movements and treatment to achieve an accurate mass balance
• Action at EU level to tackle movements of hazardous waste within the EU which are contrary to the waste hierarchy and the proximity principle.
Residues
The ESA document also makes some specific suggestions for improving the treatment of specific types of hazardous waste, including air pollution control residues, contaminated soils, and oily sludges.
And, suggesting that there are less than ideal practices in the marketplace for hazardous waste treatment, Matthew Farrow, ESAs director of policy, spoke of concerns about the way the market is operating. “We funded the research which led to the production of todays report, and we have brought the issues to the attention of the regulators.”
Mr Farrow added that Defra and the Environment Agency had said they were willing to work with the ESA to address and try to resolve the issues involved.
Strategy
Explaining more about the issues raised in the ESA document, Roy Hathaway, ESA policy advisor, told letsrecycle.com that “Defra has in effect put a strategy out there but not done anything to make it happen. There have been derogations and too much material still goes to landfill.” And, he suggested that there should be a review of derogations allowed under the Waste Acceptance Criteria.
The ESA research, he explained, had found that the datasets were inconsistent meaning that results were of poor quality which meant that regulation and tracking could not be properly undertaken.
Above: Roy Hathaway discusses the report with Steve Eminton
Contaminated soil
The governments 2010 Strategy for Hazardous Waste Management in England set out six principles:
• Apply the waste hierarchy to hazardous waste
• Facilitate the provision of infrastructure for management of hazardous waste
• Reduce reliance on landfill for hazardous waste
• Ensure hazardous wastes are not mixed or diluted
• Ensure best available techniques are applied to hazardous organic waste
• End the use of derogations from the Landfill Directive
One example of material about which the ESA has concerns is contaminated soil, said Mr Hathaway. The report warns that sham recovery is taking place in this sector and Mr Hathaway emphasised: “This is a hazardous waste and you have to deal with the hydrocarbons in it and cannot adopt a simple soil treatment approach.” The report calls for contaminated soils to be treated with physical, chemical or thermal separation for subsequent recover, eg. thermal desorption and also recovery of energy.
Mr Hathaway also commented that hazardous waste producers needed to look to see that their material went to the best treatment solution and said that the ESA accepted that its members needed to ensure that theymade information and advice available about treatment options.
However, this should be reinforced, he added, by full regulation by the Environment Agency and a determination by Defra to see hazardous waste treated up the waste hierarchy.
Research
For a full interview with Mr Hathaway, please click on the video link above. The research which led to the report is available to ESA members via the ESA website and to non-members on request, email: r-hathaway@esauk.org The report is available at:
http://www.esauk.org/esa_reports/ESA_raising_standards.pdf
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