Landfill in the UK

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See also the Landfill Directive, landfill tax and the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme

Landfill in the UK is currently recognised as the Best practicable environmental option (BPEO) for the disposal of certain waste types. In order to apply the principles of the EC 5th Programme of Policy & Action in relation to the environment and sustainable development the Government has prepared a waste strategy. The waste strategy policy on landfill is to promote landfill practices which will achieve stabilisation of landfill sites within one generation. This policy is to be implemented through guidance set out in a revised series of waste management papers on landfill. In addition, the UK and many other countries are parties to the 1992 agreement on sustainable development at the Earth Summit. The UK’s strategy for sustainable development was published in 1994. In the field of waste management, the strategy requires that the present generation should deal with the waste it produces and not leave problems to be dealt with by future generations (a generation is considered to be 30-50 years).

In recognition of the increasing quantities of waste that are being disposed of to landfill the Government has, from October 1996, imposed a tax on certain types of waste deposited in landfill. Landfill operators licensed under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) or the Pollution Control & Local Government Order 1978 etc were required to register their liability for the tax by 31 August 1996. Landfill operators who also use their site for recycling, incineration or sorting waste can apply to have the relevant area designated a tax-free site. The tax is administered by HM Revenue & Customs (and is known as the landfill tax) and it has been estimated that the tax will raise approximately £500m a year for the exchequer.

The scope of the tax etc are set down in the Landfill Tax Regulations 1996 (SI 1527). The Landfill Tax (Contaminated Land) Order 1996 (SI 1529) sets out provisions for exempting waste generated as a result of cleaning up historically contaminated land. The tax is based on the weight of the waste to be deposited, thereby applying the polluter pays principle. It also aims to promote a more sustainable approach to waste management by providing an incentive to dispose of less waste and to recover more value from waste through recycling. All waste is currently taxed at £21 per tonne (from April 2006), except for the following lower risk wastes where the tax is £2 per tonne:

• Naturally occurring rocks and soils, sand, gravel, clean building or demolition stone, top soil, peat, silt and dredgings
• Ceramic or cemented materials, glass, ceramics, concrete.

Processed or prepared mineral materials which have not been used or contaminated: moulding sands and clays, clay absorbents, manmade mineral fibres, silica and mica.

• Furnace slags.
• Low activity organic compounds.
• Gypsum and calcium sulphate based plaster, if disposed of in a separate containment cell on a mixed landfill site or in an inactive only site.

The landfill tax is set to rise by £3 per tonne in subsequent years until it reaches £35 per tonne. The principal waste type that is currently exempt from the landfill tax is that waste resulting from the remediation of historically contaminated land. This is to encourage the redevelopment of brownfield sites and to bring them back to beneficial use.

Contents 1 EPA 1990, Part II 2 The Targets 3 Meeting the Targets 4 List I substances 5 List II substances 6 Hydrology 7 See also 8 References

[edit] EPA 1990, Part II

With implementation of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 in May 1994 Part I of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 was finally replaced by Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA). The EPA seeks to build on a system put in place by COPA with stricter licensing controls and other provisions aimed at ensuring waste handling, disposal and recovery operations do not harm the environment. Responsibility for waste rests with the person who produces it together with everyone who handles it, right through to final disposal or reclamation. Only “fit and proper” persons may run waste sites and responsibility for a closed landfill site will continue until all risks of pollution or harm to human health and safety are past.

The licensing regime enables waste regulation authorities (WRAs) to refuse to accept the surrender of a license. Prior to enablement of the 1990 Act in may 1996, operators could hand back their licenses without restriction, leaving the public purse to cover any restoration and clean-up liabilities. Concern about the scale of those liabilities prompted operators to return licenses for nearly 25% of the waste disposal sites in England and Wales shortly before the new regime came into force. Now under section 39 of the 1990 Act, a WRA can not accept the surrender of a license unless it is satisfied that the condition of the land arising from its use for treating, keeping or disposing of waste is “unlikely” to cause environmental damage or harm human health.

The EC Landfill Directive (from Limiting Landfill: A Consultation paper on limiting landfill to meet the EC Landfill Directive's targets for the landfill of biodegradable municipal waste) Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste (better know as the Landfill Directive) was agreed in Europe at Council on 26 April 1999 and came into force in the EU on 16 July 2001. It was transposed into UK law in 2002. The full text of the Directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities L182/1 on 16 July 1999 and is available on the Europa Website (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex) – a site dedicated to European law.

The Directive aims to harmonise controls on the landfill of waste throughout the European Union, and its main focus is on common standards for the design, operation, and aftercare of landfill sites. It also aims to reduce the amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, emitted from landfill sites. The UK has a wider legally binding target, agreed at Kyoto in December 1997, to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

With this latter aim in mind, the Directive sets three progressive targets for Member States to reduce the amount of their municipal biodegradable waste sent to landfill. Biodegradable waste was focused upon because it is the biodegradable element of waste which breaks down to produce methane. The targets are set for an important waste stream - biodegradable municipal waste. The Directive requires that the strategy for achieving the targets must also address the need to reduce all biodegradable waste going to landfill.

[edit] The Targets

The targets contained in Article 5 of the Directive requires that:

• 1. Member States shall set up a national strategy for the implementation of the reduction of biodegradable waste going to landfills, not later than two years after the date laid down in Article 18(1) and notify the Commission of this strategy. This strategy should include measures to achieve the targets set out in paragraph 2 by means of in particular, recycling, composting, biogas production or materials/energy recovery.
• 2. This strategy shall ensure that:

(a) not later than 5 years after the date laid down in Article 18(1), biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills must be reduced to 75% of the total amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995 or the latest year before 1995 for which standardised EUROSTAT data is available.

(b) not later than 8 years after the date laid down in Article 18(1), biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills must be reduced to 50% of the total amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995 or the latest year before 1995 for which standardised EUROSTAT data is available.

(c) not later than 15 years after the date laid down in Article 18(1), biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills must be reduced to 35% of the total amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995 or the latest year before 1995 for which standardised EUROSTAT data is available.

Two years before the date referred to in paragraph (c) the Council shall re-examine the above target, on the basis of a report from the Commission on the practical experience gained by Member States in the pursuance of the targets laid down in paragraphs (a) and (b) accompanied, if appropriate, by a proposal with a view to confirming or amending this target in order to ensure a high level of environmental protection.

Member States which in 1995 or the latest year before 1995 for which standardised EUROSTAT data is available put more than 80% of their collected municipal waste to landfill may postpone the attainment of the targets set out in paragraphs (a), (b) or (c) by a period not exceeding four years...

[edit] Meeting the Targets

As stated previously, the UK currently disposes of the vast majority of its municipal waste (over 85%) by sending it to landfill, and meeting the targets presents a substantial challenge to this country. The targets in the EC Landfill Directive mean that the UK will have to take action on two levels.

• i) Limit the use of landfill to ensure that no more than the allowed amount of biodegradable municipal waste is landfilled by the target dates.
• ii) Build up alternatives to landfill to deal with the diverted waste, encourage the diversion of waste away from landfill towards these alternatives, and encourage initiatives which minimise the amount of biodegradable municipal waste produced.

The first action is the subject of the consultation document Limiting Landfill: A Consultation paper on limiting landfill to meet the EC Landfill Directive's targets for the landfill of biodegradable municipal waste. The targets in the Directive are legally binding on the UK and must be met. The Government considers that the scale of the change needed to meet the targets, and the relatively short timetable for bringing about this change, mean that a statutory instrument to limit the use of landfill for biodegradable municipal waste is essential. DETR aims to include proposals for a statutory limit for landfill in the final waste strategy for England.

The second action is dealt with in the draft waste strategy for England and Wales, A way with waste. The draft strategy has a strong presumption against landfill, and sets out goals for the sustainable management of municipal waste: recycling and composting 30% of household waste by 2010, and recovering 45% of municipal waste by the same date. The draft strategy also states that, by 2015, the Government expects that we will need to recover value from two thirds of our household waste, and that at least half of that will need to be through recycling or composting. It also reiterates the Government's support for the principle of Best Practicable Environmental Option, and the waste hierarchy, within which recycling and composting should be considered before recovery of energy from waste.

The Landfill Directive was implemented on 16 July 2001 and aims to improve standards and reduce negative effects on the environment, groundwater, surface waters, soil and air and overall limit the global impact of waste disposal. In England and Wales, the LFD has been implemented through PPC to give a single regulatory regime. All existing and new landfill sites will be brought into this regime. Sites closed before 16 July 2001 remain within the original Waste Management Licensing (WML) regime. Existing landfills have a transitional period within which they must comply with the LFD, but are required to comply with certain aspects by key dates, and all aspects by 16 July 2007. All new sites must fully comply from the start.

The LFD requires that all sites are classified as formally classified as either accepting wastes that are hazardous, non-hazardous or inert and that the engineered containment systems required for each classification of landfill are designed within a risk assessment framework (groundwater, landfill gas and stability). The LFD aims to prevent co-disposal of hazardous wastes from July 2004 and ban certain wastes to landfill eg tyres, liquid wastes, explosive, highly flammable, corrosive and oxidising wastes. Article 5 requires that the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill is reduced.

From 2004, pre-treatment of waste (physical, thermal, chemical or biological processes, including sorting to change waste characteristics) will be required to substantially reduce waste volume or hazardous nature of the waste, or to facilitate handling or to enhance the recovery potential of the waste. The LFD further requires that landfill gas will be used to generate non-fossil fuel derived energy wherever possible, that each site has a fully developed closure and aftercare plan and during the active phase and following closure, a monitoring regime to ensure groundwater quality is not compromised.

In addition to the above, landfill sites fall within the regulations draughted in response to the Groundwater Directive (agreed in 1979; published 1980 (80/68/EEC) and which have been implemented through the Waste management Licensing Regulations 1994 (Regulation 4) and the PPC Regime and Groundwater Regulations of 1998 (Hydrological Assessment Guidance 2003). This will be formally replaced by the Water Framework Directive in 2013 (or possibly earlier).

The objective of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to sustain surface water ecosystems and reverse recent trends in groundwater quality. In the context of landfill sites, groundwater protection measures require that there is no discharge of a prescribed range of substances (List I substances) to groundwater (saturated zone) and that formal compliance points below a landfill have been established.

[edit] List I substances

• Organohalogen compounds (and substances which may form such compounds in the aquatic environment)
• Organophosphorus compounds
• Organotin compounds
• Mercury and its compounds
• Cadmium and its compounds
• Cyanides
• Substances which are carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic in or via the aquatic environment
• Mineral oils and hydrocarbons

[edit] List II substances

• The following metalloids and metals and their compounds: Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb, Se, As, Sb, Mo, Ti, Sn, Ba, Be, B, U, V, Co, Th, Te, Ag.
• Biocides and their derivatives not appearing in List I
• Substances which have a deleterious effect on the taste and/or odour of groundwater
• Toxic or persistent organic compounds of silicon.
• Inorganic compounds of phosphorus and elemental phosphorus
• Fluorides
• Ammonia and nitrites

The prevention of these listed substances being discharged to the ground will ensure zero pollution. Direct discharges (no unsaturated zone) of List I substances must be prevented. Indirect discharges of List I substances (via the unsaturated zone) can only be authorized if prior investigation shows that that there will be no discharge to groundwater.

Details of the current waste regulations together with information regarding EU directives and duty of care responsibilities can be found on the DETR web site: http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/waste/index.htm Details of the minimum monitoring procedures for landfills can be found at: http://www.grc.cf.ac.uk/lrn/resources/landfill/schedule3.php

[edit] Hydrology

Since, given time and a suitable environment, almost all elements will go into solution in water, the significance of the hydrological cycle cannot be overstated. Water is also an excellent transport medium for pollutants deported in a landfill and unless this is controlled, the landfill site could become a source of pollution and environmental damage. When selecting landfill sites to following should be avoided:

- running water ie streams, established drainage facilities - sites overlying important groundwater sources ie major aquifers (NRA would need to be informed of any processes that could pose a risk to water quality. Under such conditions, it is unlikely that permission for a landfill site would be granted) - sites at low lying points where surface water tends to collect - sites adjacent to estuaries - areas of high rainfall Clearly, it should be recognised that the UK is a country of relatively high rainfall. The siting of a landfill site should account for rainfall input and the variability in rainfall over periods of hours, days and months. This assessment could dictate the temporary cover strategy for the site to limit the amount of infiltration of rainwater into open landfill sites and also engineering features to limit the general effects of the rainfall. Other considerations regarding rainfall and site selection include: - surface water drainage controls upstream of the site to divert essentially ‘clean’ water away, - surface water drainage within the site to minimise the quantity of contaminated water that occurs, - the impact of intense rain on slopes and other features on site such as stored cover material, - the amount of leachate that will be produced (of crucial importance and covered in detail at a later point in the course), - need for impermeable barriers to contain polluted waters, - anticipated infiltration and percolation so that engineered controls may be appraised/costed, - typical water table levels to determine requirement to artificially lower groundwaters, and - the quality of the material used for effective daily cover and final capping. Cover materials Historically, good landfill practice required the use of daily cover to be deposited over refuse each day. This was to prevent windblown litter, odours, infiltration of rainfall and to deter scavengers, birds and vermin. Recent research and long term evaluation of current practices has thrown into question the use of daily cover. Environmental Assessment (EA)

The importance of EIA’s when engineered infrastructure or community services such as waste disposal are planned has been well established. The selection of a site for landfill is no exception and early consideration via a scoping study for each potential site is recommended. For a development which is likely to have a significant effect on the environment, a landfill developer may be required to submit an environmental statement with their planning application (in accordance with the Town & County Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988).

EA Regulations and DoE Circular 15/88 describe the process that an environmental assessment should take, and the specified information that should be reported. Information required for an EA: - a description of the development, incorporating the site the design and scale of the proposals, - the baseline data used to identify and assess the main environmental effects of the development, and - a description of the likely environmental effects of the development and measures proposed to mitigate adverse effects. Issues to be included in an EA include: - justification of the need for a landfill site, - what is proposed by way of redevelopment of the site - programme, operations, reinstatement, afteruse and the residual value of the site, - problems and proposed mitigation measures associated with dust, noise, wind blown refuse and vermin control, - site management practices- opening times, range of materials to be accepted, emergency procedures for fire, - traffic projections and impact on local roads and community, - aesthetic considerations, - impact on ecology and nearby sites of SSI/importance in terms of nature conservation, - potential pollution of groundwater or surface waters, - implications for future development of adjacent land, and - consideration of alternative sites and the cost/environmental consequences of using these. Developments dealing with special wastes fall within Schedule 1 of the EA Regulations where environmental assessment is mandatory. DJR 12/2000

[edit] See also

• Animal By-Products Regulations
• Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme
• Landfill Directive
• Landfill tax
• Waste legislation
• Waste management

[edit] References

Richards, David 2005, Landfill Engineering course notes for 'Waste Resource Management' at the University of Southampton