Waste, the Landfill Tax and the Inert Problem

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Waste, the Landfill Tax and the Inert Problem

.0 ABSTRACT

Waste is an important issue that affects us all; it is also very complex. What waste actually is is also very unclear the issue has been before the courts on a number of occasions because regulatory authorities and industry see the definitions differently. The confusion is caused by the existence of numerous definitions of waste.

In England and Wales three main methods are used to deal with waste, they are Recycle and Reuse, Incineration and Landfill. All three methods have problems which can have a harmful effect on the environment or public health, reuse and recycling suffers from economic problems.

In 1996 the government introduced the landfill tax which aimed to encourage recycling and reuse and to free up space at landfill sites. The landfill has reduced waste arisings at landfill sites but there is no evidence of increased re use or recycling, it is believed that the waste is being disposed of in either the unregulated or illegal sectors. This is then causing further environmental problems.

2.0 CONTENTS:

Page No.

.0 ABSTRACT 1

2.0 CONTENTS 2

3.0 APPENDICES 3

4.0 INTRODUCTION 4

5.0 WHAT IS WASTE 6

6.0 CURRENT DISPOSAL METHODS 9

7.0 THE LANDFILL TAX 12

8.0 THE INERT PROBLEM 15

9.0 REGULATION 19

0.0 CONCLUESION 20

1.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES 22

2.0 APPENDICES:

Appendix 1 Statutory Definition of Waste

Appendix 2 Statutory Definition of Special Waste

Appendix 3 Section 45 of the EPA 1990

Appendix 4 ECOTEC (2000) Survey Framework

Appendix 5 My survey

Appendix 6 Graphs

Appendix 7 Exemptions in Full

Appendix 8 Photographs

4.0 INTRODUCTION

Mellanby (1992) blames the waste problem entirely on humans, he says, "before Homo sapiens appeared on earth, there was no real waste materials." By this, he means that in nature nothing is wasted, the bodies of dead animals and plants are efficiently recycled when they die. The dead organism is broken down by and/or eaten by other plants, animals, fungi or bacteria that reap a benefit from it, i.e. it is not wasted. In nature even the faeces and excrement from animals is recycled in some form, for example many different insects feed on dung, and plants can gain extra nutrients from dung that becomes incorporated with soil.

The waste problem began with our earliest relatives who would simply discard waste where it was produced. Mellanby goes onto suggest that cave dwellings used by Palaeolithic Hunters are thought to have been reduced to half their original size by waste deposits. He also suggests that communities would simply move on when an area became too unpleasant to live in, a strategy that was followed by numerous successive civilisations.

However in these early strategies can not be followed in a modern densely populated world, we do not have the space to move on every time an area becomes too disgusting to live in. In the coming years waste is going to become an issue of increasing importance s society runs out of holes in the round that need filling.

Waste forms and important part of our everyday lives, everything we put in the bin; flush down the toilet or pour down the sink is waste, every time we use our cars we produce waste gasses. When thought about carefully it is easy to see the amount of waste that we produce individually each year. When this is multiplied by the population of the world, it is an immense amount, which all needs to managed safely in a manner that is sustainable. When considering this issue it is very important to think towards the future, not just the present, we don not want our children to inherit the problem that we face today.

Many authors see waste as the biggest problem facing the environment today; Gourlay (1992) calls our world a "world of waste." She then goes onto say "unless we do something about it, humanity may disappear under its own detritus, and the world we know with it."

Waste and the problems associated with it are major environmental issues and I feel that it is important to explore and evaluate the UK governments response to this by focusing in on their major policy of recent years, the landfill tax. It is necessary, though, to focus in on England and Wales in particular because the rules, regulations and in many cases the policies for Scotland and Northern Ireland are inherently different.

During the study I have focused in on Household, Industrial and commercial solid wastes because the treatment of liquid effluent and gasses is extremely different in both legislation and practice.

During the next few pages, I am going to explore these important issues. Initially I believe that it is important to spend some time examining exactly what waste is as it has been clouded by numerous different definitions and legal actions. Within this, it is necessary to examine what currently happens to waste, who regulates it and what government is aiming for in the future. I will than go onto examine and evaluate what I see as the kingpin to current waste management policy, the Landfill tax. However the landfill tax as created many problems and I will examine these in the subsection entitled "The Inert Problem." I will then conclude by looking to the future and briefly look at the international waste management problem.

5.0 WHAT IS WASTE?

Our perception of waste is a simple one, waste is something that we do not want, we put it in a dustbin and some one comes and takes it away. How ever from a legal perspective waste is a complex issue, there are many contrasting definitions and meanings of waste spread over the different tiers of our legal system. Sunkin (1998) says, "the legal definition of waste is far from clear." As I am concentrating on waste in England and Wales in this report, I feel that it is necessary to bypass the international and European legal definitions and concentrate on what waste means in England and Wales.

Hanks (1990) define waste as "a material that has been used and is no longer wanted, or a material left over from a useful process." This is quite a simple definition, however what if a material not wanted by one person is wanted by another, is it still waste? If a material left over from a useful process is still of use, is it still waste? Gourlay (1992) clears up some of the confusion by defining waste as "unserviceable material remaining over from any process of manufacture; the useless by products of any industrial process; material or manufactured articles so damaged as to be useless or unsaleable." This definition however fails to include any mention of household or agricultural waste forms and limits its self to industrial wastes. This definition is, however, not to be cast a side as recent figures from the DETR show that industrial and commercial waste contributes to over two thirds of the UK's total waste production.

Until recently the term waste was not defined in UK legislation, in the UK 1974 Control of Pollution ACT controlled waste was defined as "those wastes subject to its control." This caused immense confusion as this piece of legislation did not even tell people what waste was, this confusion has been alleviated by the introduction of the Environmental Protection ACT 1990 (EPA 1990).

The EPA 1990 defines waste as "any substance which constitutes a scrap material or an effluent or other unwanted surplus substance arising from any application of any process; and any substance or article which requires to be disposed of as being broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled." It goes on to say that waste is "any substance that the holder discards, or intends or is required to discard." The full statutory definition of waste is included as appendix 1. This definition is one of the most comprehensive available but it does have many weaknesses, for example the definition suggests that if a substance can be used for a useful purpose it is not waste, however the results of a court case 1989 questions this. Sunkin (1998) states the case of Kent County Council v Queenborough Rolling Mill Co Ltd of 1998 where the court found that industrial waste continued to be waste even though it had been sorted and put to useful purpose as in fill on land which suffered from subsidence, and posed no environmental risk.

Section 75 of the EPA 1990 goes on to categorise waste into three distinct categories, Household, Commercial and Industrial waste. Each category is then subject to slightly different rules. Household waste is waste that is produced by a property or caravan used solely for habitation and schools, colleges and domestic waste from nursing and residential homes. Household waste is exempt from the Duty of Care (Waste) regulations because local authorities are responsible for its collection and disposal, under section 45 of the EPA 1990 (see appendix 3). The cost of collection and disposal of this waste is generally taken from local authority budgets.

Commercial waste is waste collected from premises used mainly for the purpose of a trade, business or entertainment excluding industrial and household waste. Producers of commercial waste are expected to pay for the collection and disposal of their waste to an either private company or local government waste disposal authority. Commercial waste is subject to the Duty of Care (Waste) Regulations and compliance with this is monitored by the Environment Agency.
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Industrial waste is waste produced by factories, transport services, utility companies, communication service providers and the construction and demolition companies. Producers of industrial waste are expected to pay for its disposal in a similar manner as producers of commercial waste. Industrial waste is subject to the Duty of Care (waste) Regulations like commercial waste but agricultural waste is excluded from this for the time being, although it will be included in the near future.

Waste from any of the three categories can be classed as special or difficult waste. Special waste is any controlled waste that requires ...

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