Legislation

The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 is the transposition of the EU Batteries Directive (the only piece of EU legislation entirely dedicated to batteries) into UK law.

The regulations set a portable battery recycling target of 25% from 2012, 35% from 2014, and 45% and beyond from 2016. It also prohibits industrial and automotive batteries from being sent to landfill or incineration.

The Requirements

If your business operates in the UK and classes as a battery producer, then you will have to register either with the Environment Agency or an approved Compliance scheme.

Businesses are deemed battery producers if they place batteries into the UK market. This means you will be affected if your manufacture batteries, import products containing batteries, or sell batteries in the UK. If you import batteries fro your own use, your business is not classed as a producer.

If your business has a UK presence and places batteries onto the UK market for the first time then you are a producer. This includes batteries in appliances and vehicles.

Your specific obligations will vary depending on the type and amount of batteries you produce:

• If you place batteries totalling a weight of 1 tonne or less per annum, you are classed as a Small Producer and are required to register with the Environment Agency for which you’ll pay a small fee.
• If you place more than 1 tonne of batteries per annum into the UK market, the your business is a Large Producer and must register with one of the approved Compliance Schemes, which involves paying an EA fee along with other ongoing costs.
• If your business imports automiotive or industrial batteries, then you must register your company details.
• If you sell more than 32kgs of batteries a year (roughly equivalent to 24 AA batteries a week), then you have an obligation to register.
• If you produce only industrial or automotive batteries, then you must register your business with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, an automotive battery is classed as a battery that either starts a vehicle engine or powers lights in a vehicle; an industrial battery is defined as a battery that is designed exclusively for industrial or professional use, powers an electric or hybrid vehicle, or is an unsealed battery that is not automotive; and a portable battery is described as sealed, under 4kg, and not automotive or industrial.

How Bywaters can Help

Bywaters can offer expert advice to help you work out which bodies you need to register your business with depending on the type and amount of batteries you produce. In addition, we can provide industry-leading battery recycling services as part of our waste management solutions.

For further information about how Bywaters can support your business’s requirements, please get in touch today.

Under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, there is a legal responsibility (Duty of Care) to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to manage waste properly.

This Duty of Care applies to anyone who produces, imports, keeps, stores, transports, treats, or disposes of waste – and also to anyone who acts as a broker and has control of waste. A breach of this Duty of Care can lead to an unlimited fine.

The Requirements

The Waste Duty of Care covers two sections: general and household waste. The responsibilities for each of these waste types is detailed below.

General Waste Duty of Care

If you have waste that you need to dispose of, you are legally obliged to:

• Ensure that your waste is collected by licensed individuals
• Take steps to remain in control of your waste management
• Store all waste safely and securely prior to disposal
• Prevent environmental pollution or causing harm
• Prepare waste transfer notes if passing your waste onto someone else

If you’re collecting and disposing of other people’s waste, you must:

• Be authorised to collect waste
• Ensure that waste transfer notes are collected detailing types of waste collected and retained

Household Waste Duty of Care

If you own a property, you are legally responsible to take reasonable actions to verify that your waste is collected by authorised personnel. Examples of these steps include:

• Get a full address and telephone number from the waste carrier
• Ask to see their waste carrier’s license – all authorised carriers will have one of these issued by the Environment Agency or Natural Resource Wales
• Contact the Environment Agency directly on 08708 506 506

How Bywaters can Help

Bywaters is a fully licensed waste carrier, with licenses and permits issued by the Environmental agency for all of our facilities – in addition to other accreditations. Additionally our custom designed reporting software gives all our clients quick and easy access to all waste transfer notes and compliance documentation.

For further information about how Bywaters can improve your business’s waste management, please get in touch.

The European Waste Catalogue (EWC) is a set of codes used to indicate what type of waste is being collected or processed. The catalogue contains in the region of 650 different codes, divided into 20 chapters.

The Requirements

Noting down the relevant EWC codes on waste transfer notes is part of complying with the Waste Duty of Care, as it ensures that all waste is recorded and able to be sent to the right location.

The EWC contains many different sub-categories in order to enable waste carriers to be as specific as possible about the waste they are collecting. Some examples of these are:

• General waste (e.g. dry mixed recycling and glass)
• Construction waste (e.g. concrete and bricks)
• Packaging waste (e.g. single-use plastics)
• WEEE (e.g. old electrical appliances)

How Bywaters can Help

We’re always on hand to offer expert advice about the waste management industry. If you have any questions about the European Waste Catalogue, please get in touch.

As part of your business’s Duty of Care, extra steps must be taken with regards to the disposal of hazardous waste in order to ensure that waste produced by your company causes no harm or damage.

What constitutes hazardous waste is outlined in the European Waste Catalogue, with additional streams being introduced in the List of Wastes (England) Regulations 2005. Hazardous wastes include – among others – the following:

• Paint
• Ink
• Asbestos
• Oils (excluding edible oils)
• Fluorescent tubes
• Pesticides
• Detergents
• Solvents
• Batteries
• Equipment containing ozone depleting substances (e.g. fridges)
• WEEE
• Hazardous waste containers

The Requirements

Precise regulations around hazardous waste management are devolved to each constituent member of the UK. Here we will focus on the laws that govern hazardous waste in England. Click to learn about the rules in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

In England, if your business does any of the following:

• Produces hazardous waste
• Holds or stores hazardous waste
• Has hazardous waste removed from its premises

Then you will be required to handle your waste in a particular way in order to ensure no environmental damage results from its disposal. There are five requirements that you must fulfill in order to be compliant:

1. Classify your waste using the European Waste Catalogue
2. Separate hazardous waste from other waste
3. Use an authorised waste management service provider and check that their sites have environmental permits
4. Fill out consignment notes when moving hazardous waste – keeping one copy and giving two to you waste carrier
5. Keep a record for three years of hazardous waste movements at the site from which the movements took place

From 2004 it has been prohibited to co-dispose of hazardous and non-hazardous waste in landfills, so it’s particularly important to make sure you know exactly what kinds of waste that your business is producing, and to sort them accordingly.

How Bywaters can Help

Bywaters is fully licensed to carry, and has the facilities to manage hazardous waste. We also send zero waste direct to landfill, so you can be sure that your waste is being disposed of in the most environmentally sustainable way possible.

For further information about how Bywaters can improve your business’s hazardous waste management, please get in touch today.

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive (96/61/EC) was codified in Directive 2008/1/EC and then later in Directive 2010/75/EU. The purpose of the IPPC Directve is to minimise industrial and agricultural pollution throughout the European Union, and it covers about 52,000 installations across the continent.

The IPPC Directive requires an integrated approach: permits must take into account all emissions factors (e.g. carbon emissions, water pollution, generation of waste, noise, use of raw materials etc.) to ensure a minimisation of all environmental pollution. When granting permits, emissions limit values (ELVs) must be founded upon the Best Available Techniques (BATs) defined in the IPPC Directive.

In order to receive an industrial or agricultural permit, an installation must comply with the following conditions:

• Use Best Available Techniques to minimise pollution
• Dispose of waste in cleanest way possible – preferably by preventing, reusing, or recycling
• Use energy efficiently
• Take measures to prevent accidents
• Prevent any large-scale pollution
• The site of the installation must be returned to its original condition when the activity is over
• Any long-distance pollution ust be minimised

For the purpose of the IPPC Directive, Best Available Techniques are defined as the most technically and economically viable techniques for reducing emissions within the sector.

How Bywaters can Help

All Bywaters operations are compliant with the requirements of the IPPC Directive, as are the facilities of any partners we work with. In our mission to become the UK’s most sustainable waste management company, Bywaters takes our commitment to cleaning up the environment seriously.

For further information around how we can support your requirements, or about any of our facilities, please get in touch today.

The European Directive 1999/31/EC on the Landfill of Waste (Landfill Directive) was implemented in 2001 and regulates waste going to landfill within the European Union. The Landfill Directive aims to reduce reliance on landfill, decrease their environmental impacts and reduce the risk to human health.

The Landfill Directive sets minimum standards for the location, design, construction and operation of landfills. It also controls the nature of waste accepted for landfill by setting targets for the diversion of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) from landfill.

The Directive bans the following wastes from going to landfill, instead requiring they be recovered, recycled, or disposed of in other ways:

• Liquid wastes
• Explosive, corrosive or oxidising waste
• Flammable waste
• Hospital and other clinical waste which is infectious
• Used tyres
• Waste which does not meet the acceptance criteria of Annex II of the Landfill Directive

The Landfill Directive also created three different types of landfills that must only be used for their defined form of waste: hazardous waste landfills, non-hazardous waste landfills, and inert waste landfills.

How Bywaters can Help

Bywaters operates a zero waste direct to landfill policy, instead transporting non-recyclable waste on barges via London’s waterways to energy from waste facilities for recovery.

For further information around how we can support your requirements and divert your company’s waste away from landfill, please get in touch.

In the UK there is a Landfill Tax that applies to waste sent to landfill. It has applied to all waste sent to landfill (with the exception of forms of waste that are specifically exempt) since 1st October 1996 and increases every year to further encourage the recycling or reusing of waste.

The landfill tax is separated into 2 bands. Inert and inactive waste is charged at a lower rate, with other wastes being taxed a standard rate. The rate is set to increase on the 1st April 2020 to the following amounts:

Current Landfill Tax:

• Standard Rate: £91.35/tonne
• Lower Rate: £2.90/tonne

From 1st April 2020:

• Standard Rate: £94.15/tonne
• Lower Rate: £3/tonne

By diverting the waste from landfill, for instance by reusing or recycling waste, or sending non-recyclable waste for recovery via incineration, UK companies can avoid having to pay landfill tax.

How Bywaters can Help

With Bywaters you’ll avoid the Landfill Tax completely, as we operate a zero waste direct to landfill policy. We take our commitment to the environment seriously – especially through our ‘London for London’ approach – and ensure that all our customers’ waste is handled sustainably.

For more information about how we can improve your sustainability, contact us today.