As of the 1st April 2016, updates to the Hazardous Waste Regulations mean that practices no longer need to register their premises if they produce or hold hazardous waste in England.
Since 2005 it has been an offence to produce hazardous waste at premises, or remove that waste from those premises, unless you were registered with the Environmental Agency or exempt for any reason (e.g. if you produced, held or removed less than 500kg of hazardous waste in a 12-month period).
The change has been brought about by the Strategic Smarter Environmental Regulation Review, in a bid to reduce costs and administration for business operators.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency commented: “By eliminating the need to register with us these changes will reduce the regulatory burden on business and the use of the revised consignee information will help ensure that we can continue to trace hazardous waste back to its source.”
With the change comes a new coding system, whereby the first 6 characters of the consignment note (currently the registration number of your premises) will need to be replaced with the first six numbers or letters of the business name. Businesses must ensure consistent use of these six letters or numbers, as “Exempt” will no longer be accepted. Practices whose names are less than 6 letters long will be provided with filler letter to insert in the remaining spaces. The second set of characters will continue to be 5 numbers or letters of your business’s choice.
Furthermore, requirements for the SIC code on the consignment note also will change. The Environmental Agency currently accept SIC 2003, SIC 2007 or NACE, but the change in the Hazardous Waste Regulations will see only SIC 2007 and NACE being accepted. It is important to note that a consignment note still must accompany hazardous waste when moved from any premises.
As such, as of midnight on 31st March, all current consignment notes are null-and-void, and new paperwork will be issued on and after 1st April.
Failure to comply with the changes will result in your waste collector being unable to collect your hazardous waste. To find out more about the new regulations, contact the Environment Agency on 03708 502 858.
Author Stuart Fraser
As a Clinical Waste & e-Learning Specialist for clinical waste and sharps management expert Sharpsmart UK, Stuart Fraser has helped dental practices of all sizes and specialities reduce waste, save money, protect staff and remain compliant.
Posted by Gemma
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