Environmental Protection Act

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The Environmental Protection Act (1990) is a UK Act of Parliament relating to the transfer, treatment and disposal of controlled wastes.

Under Part 2, section 34, a duty of care applies to a number of activities, which are summarised below.

Downstream offences

There is a responsibility to prevent any other person committing an offence under section 33 (EPA, 90).

A waste producer therefore has to take reasonable care to ensure that the waste he generates is not passed to a third party who:

Does not have a waste management agreement licence

Is likely to keep, treat, or dispose of waste in contradiction to the conditions of the licence

Is likely to keep, treat or dispose of the waste in such a way as to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.

Escape

There is a responsibility to prevent the escape of waste. This applies to persons who are producing the waste, as much as to those who are transporting it or disposing of it on his behalf. The duty of care of the waste producer extends to the activities of third parties. It is necessary to ensure while the waste is in your possession that there are:

Adequate storage containers/facilities

Bundling where necessary

Cover where necessary

Suitable transport vehicles and transfer procedures.

It is also necessary to ensure that the person you pass the waste on to also has these.

Transfer

There is a responsibility to ensure that the transfer of waste applies with the regulations which govern it This means (in simple terms) that:

The waste is only passed to a third party who is properly authorised for its transport

The waste is transported to a licensed waste disposal/treatment facility.

Description

Responsibilities:

Waste transfer is accompanied by a written description.

This description is "good enough" to enable each person who receives the waste to:

Avoid committing any offence under section 33 of the act

Comply with the duty to prevent the escape of waste.

[edit] Environmental protection (duty of care) regulations (1991)

Section 34 of EPA 90 allowed for regulations to be drawn up concerning the requirement for the retention of documents; these were published in 1991.

Provisions:

All transfers of controlled waste must be undertaken via a duty of care waste transfer form

Copies of all waste transfer forms must be kept for 2 years

Forms must be available to the Waste Regulation Authority.

[edit] Breach of Duty of Care

This is a criminal offence which may result in a summary conviction and a fine not exceeding £2000 or a conviction on indictment leading to an unlimited fine. There is a dual responsibility with both the individual representing the corporate body and the corporate body itself liable for prosecution.

Practical steps a waste producer should take to ensure that he complies with the duty of care

Obtain an official photocopy from the Waste Regulation Authority of the waste transporter's registration document and confirm with them that you are handing over your waste to a registered carrier

Make sure you know to which disposal/treatment site your waste is going

Pay periodic visits (unannounced) to the site and ask for:

documents which refer to your waste

a tour of the site

to see site reports from the Environment Agency's Waste Regulatory Inspector

to see information on the environmental monitoring scheme for the site.

The general impression and especially the reports from the Waste Regulatory Inspector will tell the organisation whether it is complying with the conditions of the waste management licence.