Health and Safety - Online Library

 

The Environmental Protection Act 1990

 

This is the centre piece of legislation on environmental protection

The Act defines the following:

Pollutants

• Solid wastes discharging onto land
• Liquid wastes discharging onto land or into water
• Discharges into the atmosphere
• Noise in the community

Controlled waste

• Waste from households
• Waste from industry
• Commercial waste

Special waste

• Controlled waste that is so hazardous that it must be disposed of using specialist procedures.

Main Features

• Cover approx 2000 processes from the major industry sectors
• Environmental Agency may either grant an authorisation or reject the application. In granting authorization the Environment Agency must include conditions to ensure that:

- BATNEEC – Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Cost are used

- If a process involves releases to more than one environmental medium, the operator must use the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) to achieve the best environmental solution overall.

Duty of Care

Duty of care is covered in part 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The duty of care applies to anyone who produces or imports, keeps or stores, transports, treats or disposes of waste. It also applies if they act as a broker and arrange these things.

The duty holder is required to take all reasonable steps to keep waste safe, if they give waste to someone else, the duty holder must be sure they are authorized to take it and can transport, recycle or dispose of it safely.

Penalty for breach of this is unlimited fine

Controlled waste means household, commercial or industrial waste. It includes any waste from a house, school, university, hospital, residential or nursing home, shop, office, factory or any other trade or business premises. It is controlled waste whether it is solid or liquid and even if it is not hazardous or toxic.

It is important to remember that should waste come from a persons home the duty of care does not fall on the resident, however should it not come from the house that they live in, i.e. from their workplace then the duty of care does apply.

Animal waste collected and transported under the Animal By-Products Order 1992 is not subject to duty of care.

Steps to take if duty of care applies

When a duty of care applies, they must:

• Stop it escaping from their control and store it safely and securely. They must prevent it causing pollution or harming anyone
• Keep it in a suitable container. Loose waste in a skip or in a lorry must be covered
• If the duty holder gives waste to someone else, they must check that they have the authority to take it. The law says the person to whom they pass the waste onto must be authorized to take it.
• Describe the waste in writing. The duty holder must complete a transfer note

Who has the authority to take waste?

• Council Waste Collectors
• Registered Waste Carriers – check for a certificate of registration
• Exempt Waste Carriers – Charities, voluntary organizations etc.
• Holders of waste Management Licenses
• Businesses exempt from waste management licenses – scrap metal merchants etc
• Authorised Transport Purposes
• Registered waste brokers
• Exempt waste brokers