Getting Hazardous

IS YOUR WASTE PUTTING YOU AT RISK? Dealing with hazardous waste can be confusing - there’s a multitude of legislation; it’s overseen by many different regulators; it not only includes gases, liquids and solids but often the containers they come in; and you can’t necessarily tell whether something is hazardous just by looking at it.

It may be tempting to just take a chance and throw something in the general waste or recycling but as well as having a legal obligation to deal with your hazardous waste responsibly, its material that has been deemed harmful to human health and/ or the environment – it’s just not worth the risk. Besides, if your non-hazardous waste is found to contain hazardous material, the complete contaminated load may require transportation and disposal as hazardous waste which will cost you significantly more than treating it as non-hazardous.

WHAT ARE HAZARDOUS WASTES?

Hazardous wastes are gases, liquids or solids with properties or characteristics that present potential threats to human health and/or the environment including explosivity, oxidisation, flammability, corrosivity, irritability and toxicity. These properties and characteristics are found in a wide range of substances and chemicals including paint, fuels and adhesives as well as products such as batteries, electrical equipment and gas canisters. For guidance on hazardous wastes classification in Great Britain, refer to the Environment Agency’s technical guidance WM3.

7 Top Tips: DEALING WITH HAZARDOUS WASTE

These tips should help you ensure you are dealing with your hazardous waste compliantly, that you aren’t putting yourself, your employees or anyone else at risk;

1. Understand what you are dealing with Always refer to the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health risk assessment (CoSHH sheet) to understand whether a substance or product is hazardous and how it must be handled, stored, transported and disposed of.

2. Train your staff regularly Your team need to know what hazardous wastes could be on your site and how to deal with them safely and compliantly. Employees need regular training and reminders, such as posters, in areas of your site where they may be dealing with, or come across, hazardous wastes.

3. Use the right container Hazardous waste needs to be stored in separate, secure, durable, weather and corrosion resistant, UN-approved containers. After using a container to store hazardous waste, that container may need to be decontaminated with a neutralisation solution before being re-used, depending on what hazardous waste it has contained.

4. Signpost clearly Ensure all your waste containers have clear labels as to what can and can’t go in them so that the right waste goes in the right container. Ideally your hazardous waste container will stand out clearly from other waste containers – a good and easy way to ensure this is to have a totally different coloured container.

5. Audit staff, wastes and contractors The only way to find out whether hazardous waste is being dealt with properly is to regularly audit. This not only means checking staff understanding but also looking at what’s in your hazardous waste container and what’s in your other waste containers. Waste pro-ducers have a Duty of Care until waste is disposed of so you also need to audit your waste contractor.

6. Take ownership of what happens on your site You may not deal with hazardous waste on your site but others may – for example if you subcontract cleaning services or decorating, if you are building or renovating. You may require subcontractors, as part of their contracts, to take away the waste generated during their activities – but you still need to securely keep SDS and CoSHH sheets in case there is a health and safety incident.

7. Choose the right supplier, Choose Powerday The right waste contractor will support you with all the above whilst ensuring your waste is transported by ADR trained drivers. They will ensure you have the correct paperwork and that your hazardous waste is disposed of correctly.

Note: The above guidance applies to hazardous waste in the United Kingdom. Legislation may differ in Northern Ireland and Ireland – please refer to local regulators for information.