Definitions of waste
Every business has to manage the storage and removal of the unwanted materials which are generated from its activities. In any business, those who make and dispose of waste materials recognise what waste actually ‘is’. However, the legal definitions of waste are more complicated. The definition according to the draft European Waste Framework Directive is:
‘any substance or object . . . which the producer or the person in possession of it discards or intends or is required to discard’.
(see also the guide to EU Waste Policy)
In other words, anything which is no longer of use, because it is worn out, past its sell-by date, contaminated, broken, etc., and which the people who own it have decided to get rid of is a waste.
This definition is the basis for the regulations which govern all the sites in England and Wales which process, recycle, burn or bury waste materials (see Waste Management Licensing Regulations SI 1994/1056 (as amended) in the EEF Register of Environmental Legislation).
This applies whether the item is of no value or whether someone else is willing to purchase it. For example, a company may want to sell a skip load of scrap metal to a merchant who will recycle it. The merchant may be ready to purchase the metal from its owners. Legally the metal is waste because its current owners have no use for it.
This has implications for the producer of the waste and the processor who wishes to purchase it. Both of them must regard the material as a waste and fulfil the legal obligations outlined below. It is still preferable to reprocess waste rather than dispose of it, and there are financial benefits, e.g. tax is paid on waste when it is landfilled but not when it is reprocessed.
However, this interpretation is being reviewed and will be influenced by the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the Environment Agency's policy towards waste lubricating oils amongst others.