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Questions and Answers

Definition of waste

 

  1. Licence waste sites = to take trade wastes?

If a site is licensed to take industrial and commercial waste, then it is able to take most types of trade waste (unless hazardous/special waste). Any hazardous/special waste (such as asbestos, oil, batteries etc) must only be deposited at sites licensed to take such material.

If a site is only licensed to accept household waste then it may not take any form of "trade waste". A case in point is the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) network that is only currently licensed and set up to handle household waste. It has been suggested that these sites could offer a recycling service to SMEs and this is being investigated. The problem is that many sites are already overloaded by the current level of use and the danger is that any commercial use would only lead to traffic and other environmental problems. However, pilot projects are proposed at Alton and Fareham to investigate whether it would be feasible to accept commercial waste for recycling where sufficient capacity exists.

  1. What is the definition of waste "pre-treatment"?

Pre-treating waste prior to its disposal or further management simply alters the state of the waste - usually to produce a less harmful or difficult waste for disposal/management. Pre-treatment can involve using heat, chemicals, filtration systems, or a combination of these means.

  1. We don’t know the composition of commercial waste.

There is a problem nationally with a shortage of data on quantities and constituents of commercial and industrial wastes.

The Environment Agency carries out nationally surveys from time to time and these break commercial waste down into the following key categories:

    • Paper and card;
    • Food;
    • General industrial;
    • Other general and biodegradable;
    • Metals and scrap equipment;
    • Contaminated general;
    • Minerals wastes and residues; and
    • Chemical and other.

There is a particular problem in understanding the composition of waste from SMEs and in order to address this problem a survey of resources in commercial, and industrial waste is being undertaken under the auspices of the Hampshire Natural Resources Initiative. This work is being developed by Southampton University, the Open University and Ecosys and is funded by the Onyx Environmental Trust, Hampshire County Council and the South East Regional Development Agency (SEEDA). The work has just commenced but the results will not be available until 2005.

  1. What is included in agricultural waste? How is it disposed of?

Agricultural waste is a somewhat grey area. It includes a range of materials and the Environment Agency breaks agricultural waste down into the following key categories:

    • Vegetable or plant waste
    • Pesticide washings
    • Animal matter
    • Plastics/polymers
    • Paper and card
    • Tyres
    • Vehicles and machinery
    • Oils
    • Sheep dip
    • Milk
    • Rubber
    • Glass

Because waste from agricultural premises is not normally controlled under waste management legislation by the Environment Agency (although this is set to change), there is no reliable information relating to how this waste is managed or disposed of. A lot of agricultural wastes e.g. manures and slurries are spread on farmland.

  1. Terminology - directives have to use the word ‘Waste’, however this conjures up: not in my back yard mentality E.g. perception of vermin and flies.

It is true that the word ‘waste’ gives rise to a very negative perception, and the sort of images described. The problem is that the definition of ‘waste’ is enshrined in law and the whole system of waste management and regulation has evolved around these definitions. It is very difficult to change from that perspective. We are using the term ‘material resources’ as a generic label to try and reflect a change of emphasis that the MRS is trying to establish.

To deal with the concerns around the use of terminology generally, we are preparing a glossary to define terms used in the MRS stakeholder involvement process. The MRS partners will develop an initial list of defined terms, which will be bought to each MRS workshop and posted on the MRS web site. Stakeholders will have the opportunity to add words they would like defining to the glossary at all meetings, this way the glossary will evolve with the development of the MRS.

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