The document, which covers England and Wales, provides guidance for those who produce, carry, keep, dispose of, treat, import or have control of controlled waste on how they must fulfil a legal obligation (Duty of Care) to take all reasonable steps to keep it safe, as set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Controlled waste includes waste from households, businesses and industry.
Waste Duty of Care: Code of Practice
The new 13-page document replaces a much longer 60-page version, with some duplication and detail from the old document taken out. This also includes removal of examples of best practice of how to meet the Duty of Care.
‘Smart’
According to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Government, who jointly consulted on changes to the guidance in July (see letsrecycle.com story) the new document represents ‘smarter’ guidance.
Much of the detail has been shorn from the old version of the document, with new guidance focussing on general outlines of the legal requirements of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Revisions were also carried out to take account of changes to legislation and policy since the first Code of Practice was launched in 1996, including the introduction of the five-stage legally-binding Waste Hierarchy and the emergence of the Electronic Duty of Care system for producing waste transfer notes electronically.
Separate collection
The document also contains an updated section on separate collection, where it outlines the necessity to collect waste paper, metal, plastic or glass separately from each other where it is technically, environmentally and economically practicable.
However, some concerns have been raised that the new version of the guidance is not detailed enough for professional users. One criticism of the new guidance is that it is ‘too complicated for those unfamiliar with waste legislation’ but, ‘too basic for waste companies and their advisers’.
The new Code of Practice was laid before Parliament yesterday and published on the gov.uk website this morning.
An industry-led campaign is due to be rolled out this spring, aimed at raising the profile of the Duty of Care among waste producing businesses. The campaign ‘Right Waste, Right Place’ is being led by the Environmental Services Association and will offer best practice guidance to SMEs (see letsrecycle.com story).
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