It’s probably best to define waste before we continue to define the Hazardous components that arrise. Waste in the EU is defined under Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste. The term ‘waste’ means anything that—

(i)is waste for the purposes of the Waste Directive; and
(ii)subject to regulation 15, is not excluded from the scope of that Directive by Article 2 of that Directive.

In the Regulations, a reference to the Waste Directive conditions is a reference to the conditions laid down in Article 4 of that Directive, that is to say, to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health and without using processes or methods which could harm the environment and in particular-

(a)without risk to water, air, soil and plants and animals;
(b)without causing a nuisance through noise or odours; and
(c)without adversely affecting the countryside or places of special interest.

The EU has produced a list of wastes defining what is and is not hazardous. This list, known as the European Waste Catalogue or EWC defines hazardous wastes with an Asterisk next to a six ditit number in three blocks of 2. In layman’s terms, hazardous waste must be transferred to a Hazardous waste Carrier using a “Consignment Note”, which has to accompany the waste when it’s transported.

The Hazardous waste regulations govern the production and dispsosal of wastes and under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005, which became effective on 16 July 2005, commonplace items such as televisions, lead-acid batteries and fluorescent light tubes, must now be treated seperately to non-hazardous wastes. This means that an increasing number of businesses are defined as hazardous waste producers, and have to meet the new ‘waste acceptance criteria’ (WAC). The majority of businesses producing hazardous waste (previously known as Special Waste) need to register with the Environment Agency (England & Wales), and could face substantial fines and possible prison sentences if they fail to comply with the regulations. However, in 2009, the Waste Acceptance criteria was changed from a threshold of 200kg per annum to 500kgs per annum. Businesses now producing hazardous wastes below this threshold do not need to register with the Environment Agency (England & Wales) and can instead dispose of their waste through a Hazardous waste carrier as and exempt producer.