The decision brought an angry response from the waste management industry trade association, the Environmental Services Association (ESA), describing the announcement as creating a “twilight” period with greater likelihood of hazardous waste dumping.
Explaining the timetable, Mr Morley said: “The Council Decision on Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), agreed in Council in December 2002, sets out the standards that waste must meet to be accepted at one of the three classes of landfill – hazardous, non-hazardous or inert – prescribed by the Landfill Directive.
“It introduces criteria and sets limit values for a number of contaminants, so harmonising another aspect of landfill regulation across Europe. A consultation on how the WAC was to be implemented began on 24 September and closed on 17 December.
Site specific
“Following consultation we have decided that the implementation date for the WAC will be 16 July 2005 with the 'interim year' between July 2004–July 2005 being managed using a site specific approach based on loading rates of new wastes, the types of new waste and the types of waste already in the landfill. This site-specific approach will continue post-2005. The option of opening separate cells in hazardous sites for waste deposited after July 2005 which has been subject to the full WAC will not be pursued.”
Cadmium
The minister added: “The limit values for cadmium and mercury will remain those contained in the Council Decision. However, this position will be reviewed two years after implementation following discussions between Defra and the Environment Agency to determine whether compliance with the Groundwater Directive requires adoption of limit values lower than those required by the Landfill Directive. Furthermore, the Government has decided to extend the ban on disposing gypsum based wastes with biodegradable wastes to include any high sulphate wastes.”
Further information is available from the DEFRA website
Angry response
The ESA described the government announcement as “incomplete” over how it proposes to deal with hazardous waste after required operational changes to landfill management from July 2004.
Dirk Hazell, ESA chief executive, said:
“The Government's decision not to adopt EU standards for making hazardous waste safe until July 2005 presents the UK with a period of heightened risk of hazardous waste evading strictly regulated and safe waste management facilities for the twilight world of illegal dumping and risk.”
“The Government must mitigate risk it has created. For example, it and the Environment Agency must immediately invest resources in investigating and prosecuting environmental criminals who aim illegally to dump hazardous waste. They must also warn producers of hazardous waste what they must immediately do,” he said.
“It is almost beyond belief that the authorities have still not bothered to disclose their precise requirements for treatment of hazardous waste between July 2004 and July 2005. Nor have they managed to produce the Hazardous Waste Regulations widely expected to widen the definition of hazardous waste and of producers of this waste. Given its track record since 2001 on such a basic environmental imperative as safe management of hazardous waste, what is the purpose of DEFRA?” asked Mr Hazell.
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