Materials such as fluorescent light tubes and most old computer equipment are classed as hazardous waste (including cathode ray tubes, accumulators and batteries).
The following types of premises are exempt from the need to register if they produce less than 200 kg of hazardous waste per year:
- shops
- offices
- agricultural premises
- veterinary practices
- medical practices
- schools
- prisons
- charity premises
As can be seen from this short list of exemptions, any manufacturing or industrial premises will have to be registered as a producer of hazardous waste, however small their output of hazardous waste.
Registration requires completing a form obtained from the Environment Agency and returning it with the appropriate fee. The agency encourages companies to register via the internet and charges a reduced fee for processing the application on-line.
When a consignment of hazardous waste leaves a registered site, the agency must be notified and a fee paid. Arrangements can be made for a ‘season ticket’ covering repeated movements of the same waste to the same site over a set time period. All of this can be done electronically or by post, but the fee structure again emphasises the agency’s incentives to carry out business electronically.
All the relevant forms and procedures can be found at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subject/waste
See also EEF Register of Environmental Legislation which will be updated to include the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005.
See waste minimisation and waste management for other waste issues.