News Items from 2004

New copyright free pictures for students (28 December 2004)

It has been clear that for some time now we have receiving many visitors who arrive after searching for "landfill pictures", so we have added several galleries of such images for free download, to meet this demand. We have grouped these images into categories. The current categories include landfill works, good landfilling practise, and landfill plant images. New categories will be added progressively. Click here to see the galleries.

UK Hazardous Waste Vanishes (18 November 2004)

New European Regulations for dealing with hazardous (special) waste are thought to have led to a new problem. Much of the waste which used to go straight to landfill, but since 16 July this year has been reclassified as hazardous and must be pre-treated, and has simply disappeared from the records.

The assumption is that this waste is illegally still being taken to landfills. The Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM) has told a select committee of MPs that as much as 1 million tonnes of hazardous waste will have been landfilled without the required pre-treatment by the time the regulation has been in place for its first year.

The types of waste in question include chemical waste, sludges and highly flammable materials. These waste materials should be pre-treated before disposal to landfill, and a large increase in the waste being pre-treated was anticipated. In fact sources at the CIWM have stated that pre-treatment tonnages have instead reduced.

Of course, better waste sorting and segregation, enabling higher recycling rates etc., may be reducing the quantity of waste needing to be classified as special (hazardous), and  may account for some of the lost tonnage. However, the CIWM believe it has taken this into account within its £1 million estimate of the “missing” waste.

UK Families who fail to recycle will have to pay a “Rubbish Tax” (9 August 2004)

Press articles claim today that leaked cabinet minutes show that Householders will soon be charged for unsorted waste dumped in their rubbish bins, as an incentive to recycle paper, glass, cardboard, and other re-usable materials. The measure is, according to a leak to the “Sunday Times”, to be included in a Clean Neighbourhoods Bill which will be announced in November. (Read more here.)

New Hazardous Waste Rules introduced on 16 July 2004 in the UK:
Crisis in the Scrap Metal industry averted (21 July 2004)

The Environment Agency said today it was pleased that discussions with representatives of the vehicle dismantling, metal recycling and waste management industries had resulted in a clear understanding of the environmental outcomes that need to be achieved from the disposal of residues from shredding and fragmentising processes.

Yesterday's meeting between the Environment Agency, industry trade associations and government departments agreed a statement setting out criteria for proper disposal of shredder wastes which includes a three month window during which a simplified de-pollution checklist can apply where companies have yet to develop the capability to comply with guidance issued last year. The statement can be found on the Environment Agency's website.

Without agreement the UK Scrap (Recycling) an the steel industry which depends on the steel from scrapped vehicles, would have been forced to lay off employees, and scrap cars would have been left on the streets.

The EA’s guidance is available here.