Summary of the Main UK Waste Regulations

Refuse Disposal Amenity Act 1978 (as amended)

Provides for the disposal of household refuse or 'civic amenity' waste, whether organic or inorganic.

Control of Pollution (Special Waste) Regulations 1980 (now withdrawn)

Derived for EC Directive 78/319/EEC, on Toxic and dangerous waste, which controlled the movement of certain types of wastes considered both polluting and dangerous to life, i.e special wastes. These regulations introduced the 'cradle to grave' consignment system for special 'section 17' wastes. They have been replaced by the:

Special Waste Regulations 12996

which implement the requirements of the EC Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous wastes, in particular Article 1(4) which established a list of hazardous wastes.

Collection and Disposal of Waste Regulations 1988 (as amended)

which extended the provisions of COPA 1974 to include licensing of sites dealing with the recovery of solvents and oils. The definition of controlled waste was enlarged to include clinical waste.

Environment Protection Act 1990

Part II of EPA 1990 re-enacted the provisions of COPA 1974 relating to waste on land and imposed a duty of care on waste producers. Administrative changes in the controlling authorities were also introduced. Following the passage of the Environment Act 1995, EPA 1990 now has a new part IIA dealing with contaminated land.

Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991

These regulations made provision for a system of transfer notes and record keeping for controlled waste. Whenever the waste changes hands, both the transferor and the transferee must complete and sign a transfer note containing full details of the waste, its method of containment and identification

Waste Management and Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended)

These regulations implemented the requirement under EPA 1990 that anyone who treats, keeps or disposes of waste must hold a waste management licence.

Environment Act 1995.

The new Act rationalises the powers of the various environmental protection regulators throughout the UK. There is a new Environment Agency for England and Wales and the Scottish Environmental protection Agency in Scotland. The Environment and Heritage Service has been strengthened in Northern Ireland. The new Act also introduces a regime for the clean up of contaminated land.

Landfill Tax

In the 1994 budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced a landfill tax to be imposed on all landfill operators from 1st October 1996. The levy is intended to ease pressure on landfill sites by raising the costs of waste disposal.

EC Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste

This requires EU member states to recycle, compost or burn (with energy recovery) 50-65% by weight of packaging waste, and to recycle 25-45% of the total quantity, with at least 15% of each packaging material to be recycled, by the year 2001.

Trans-Frontier Shipment of Hazardous Waste Regulations 1988

Derived for EC Directive 84/631/EEC on the supervision and control within the EC of the Trans frontier Shipment of Hazardous Waste. These regulations are intended to prevent uncontrolled and undocumented movements of waste within, into and out of the EU countries