The Environment Agency confirmed this week that the plans are being prepared if it should turn out that there is a shortage of capacity for hazardous waste disposal. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is also heavily involved in preparing the plans.
The issue has arisen because of the late introduction of hazardous waste regulations and the fact that until this year some hazardous wastes have been able to be mixed with non-hazardous material and placed in “co-disposal” (mixed) sites.
New rules
From July 2004 under new EU rules hazardous wastes have to be dealt with separately and there is also a new set of hazardous waste rules coming into force.
However, these have been delayed until 2005 – creating an “interim year” – and so the waste management industry argues that it cannot prepare hazardous sites because it does not yet know what the precise requirements will be.
The industry is also worried that it could be liable for any risks incurred through the way the sites were built if they do not meet the full hazardous waste regulation which are yet to be published.
DEFRA, in contrast, feels that the industry does know the main requirements and could be seen as delaying unnecessarily.
Clear gap
There is now a clear gap in the level of provision, which could mean that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste including medicines, chemicals and other materials will need to be stored from July onwards, possibly for as long as two years while treatment and disposal provision is created.
While some hazardous material will go through cement kilns and waste sector high treatment facilities, landfill provision looks likely to be scarce. And, there will also be a shortage of treatment facilities. Under the new rules material will have to be stabilised – such as mixing it with concrete – before it can be landfilled.
As yet neither the Agency nor DEFRA have said what the contingency plans might involve, although it is likely to mean storage of materials. But, this is unlikely to be at the sites where the material originates. The Chemical Industries Association has said its members cannot store the waste and pointed out that they are not licensed to do this.
Merchant sites
A few hazardous waste landfill sites might be available from July 16. These are known as “merchant” sites in that industry can pay to have waste placed in them. So far only two have been permitted by the Agency although it is trying to fast track permissions. However, even if permits are granted the complex engineering requirements and uncertainty over regulations could mean the sites will be months or even a year or more away from opening.
One route that may offer some capacity for the wastes is through stable non-reactive cells in non-hazardous landfills. This is where a cell is built for hazardous wastes at a non-hazardous site. This will mean extra engineering works and the cell operator will also have to work through the legislative uncertainty. Permits are being sought for 38 of these cells but it seems unlikely that many will be operating from July, although Shanks may have one at its Calvert site in Buckinghamshire.
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