The Environment

1. The Environment Health and Safety

2. Introduction What is the Environment? • The environment is the surroundings in which all living organisms live, including the air, water, land, natural resources, flora and fauna. The environment is determined by how these interact and are used. • Since the industrial revolution there has been a marked change to the environment, with increased pollutants been released into the environment, which has resulted in the growing concern of global warming and that increased pollution is resulting in an increase in natural disasters, especially hurricanes and floods.

3. Are we prepared to lose this?

4. If the answer is no, then………. • The environment therefore must be cared for and looked after, for our own survival and health. • This growing concern for the safety of the environment came to head at the Rio Earth summit 1992 and was recently followed up by the Johannesburg Earth summit 2002. • These summits where designed for all nations to come together to discuss the state of the environment, and what should be done. • These summits were the spearhead for governments and super bodies alike (such as the EU) to design new legislation in respect of the environment.

5. Environmental Legislation • Environmental protection and sustainable development are the two keystones of legislation which are associated with environmental law: • Environmental protection is the protection of the environment be this, by classifying areas as “protected” or by creating laws to protect. i.e. wind turbines must now be designed with 3 or more blades, it was discovered having two blades damaged the immediate environment and was detrimental to the bird population.

6. The protection of our future • Sustainable Development, is the development of a nation, a business or any development be it current or old which is designed to be sustainable, i.e. if timber is used in construction than the wood should come from a sustainable managed forest, with off cuts being recycled and not thrown away. • Businesses therefore must become more environmentally friendly and account for any work they carry out that may be harmful to the environment

7. Key legislation which affects our industry: • The 1990 environmental protection Act. Esp. Sections: - 33, Prohibition on unauthorised or harmful depositing, treatment or disposal of waste - 34, Duty of Care - 47, Receptacles for commercial or industrial waste - 63, Waste other than controlled waste - 75, Meaning of "waste" and household, commercial and industrial waste and special waste

8. The Hazardous Waste Directive - The European waste catalogue - EU regulation on: The control of ozone depleting substances - The Environmental Protection (Duty Of Care) Regulations 1991 In Other Words a Pile of……..

10. But… what does all that mean? • What this means is that under the 1990 environmental protection act you must not be knowingly damaging the environment, and must identify any area of your business that may be knowingly or unknowingly doing so. • Section 34 of the environmental protection Act: the Duty of care sets out the legalisation on waste control/management: • The duty of care is a law which states that you must take all reasonable steps to keep waste safe. If you give waste to someone else, you must be sure they are authorized to take it and can transport, recycle or dispose of it safely. • If you break this law, you can be fined an unlimited amount.

11. Duty of Care those little questions! • Q. What is waste? • A. It can be anything you own, or your business produces, and • you want, or are required to get rid of. A. The law says you must take all reasonable steps to fulfill the duty and complete some paperwork. What is reasonable depends on what you do with the waste. Q. Does this affect me? • A. The duty of care applies to anyone who produces or imports, • keeps or stores, transports, treats or disposes of waste. It also • applies if you act as a broker and arrange these things. • Q. How do I know what to do? • The Government has issued practical guidance on what is • reasonable in different cases. This is in a Code of Practice.

12. Waste a quick guide • Waste: “Any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard” • There are two types of waste non-hazardous and hazardous. • Hazardous waste is the most dangerous. It can cause the greatest damage to the environment and human health, you many need to notify the environment agency of hazardous waste found on your site.

13. European waste catalogue • The European Waste Catalogue (EWC) classifies waste materials and categorizes them according to what they are and how they were produced. How do you know what waste is? • Each item of waste has 6 digits i.e. 01 02 03 • The first two are the chapter the waste is under, the second two is the sub chapter and the third two is the item number in the chapter list. i.e. Chapter one paragraph two line 3 is a good example of how the numbers work. • Waste is further categorized in the EWC as non-hazardous or hazardous, this is stated by the colour of the code if it is gray the waste is non-hazardous.

14. Hazardous waste • However for hazardous waste this is further sub-categorized into two colours. • “Absolute Entries” - Hazardous waste regardless of any threshold concentrations: • “Mirror Entries”- Hazardous waste only if dangerous substances are present above threshold concentrations: • Under the Duty of Care, waste producers have a duty to classify and describe their waste correctly; this includes selecting the most appropriate code from the EWC 2002.

15. Steps to take when you have waste The law says you must stop it escaping from your control. You must store it safely and securely. You must prevent it causing pollution or harming anyone. • Firstly, make it secure. Keep it in a suitable container. If you put lose it waste in a skip or on a lorry, cover it • Secondly, if you give waste to someone else, check they have authority to take it. The law says the person to whom you give your waste must be authorized to take it • Thirdly, you must describe the waste in writing. You must fill in and sign a transfer note for it. You must keep a copy of the transfer note. To save on paperwork, you can write your description of the waste on the transfer note.

16. Waste Transfer notes • Waste can only be removed from site by someone authorised to do so. • Waste transfer notes are used to make sure that waste is been removed by someone authorised. • Waste transfer notes must be completed by the producer and collector of the waste. • If no waste transfer note is completed then the waste can not be removed until done so.

17. Waste Transfer notes part deux • There are two types of WTN’s Non-hazardous and Hazardous, While a template is available for Hazardous waste a ‘HWN’, there is no such template for Non-Hazardous. • The WTN must contain enough information about the waste to enable anyone coming into contact with it to handle it safely and either dispose of it or allow it to be recovered within the law.  Failure to give enough information may result in prosecution. • The six digit EWC code must be referenced, along with the quantity and type of waste. If the waste is removed on a repetitive cycle, such as a skip then a season ticket note can be used, which will cover the site for one year.

18. Environmental Agency - Hazardous Waste Note

19. Scotland… a wee bit different • In Scotland Hazardous waste is called ‘SPECIAL WASTE’ and has a few different guide lines. • The waste transfer notes are still used but are tracked by the SEPA (Scottish environment protection agency), which have there own EWC codes called ‘Scottish codes’ which can be obtained from the SEPA. • Further to this you must pre-notify the SEPA if you are moving hazardous waste by 3 days. (There are exemptions to this i.e. if the same waste is been repeatedly moved from the same producer to disposal plant than pre-notification is only needed once)

20. Environmental management system • To help with environmental ISO an environmental management system should be used. • This can be designed via Microsoft Access as a database, environmental records can be kept safely and clearly available.

21. Benefits • Better use of resources • Reduces materials and waste • Saves Money • Can be used as market differentiator adds to your products unique selling points • Minimises your future environmental liabilities • Reduces your corporate risk • Enhanced business reputation

22. Conclusion • Therefore we must aim to achieve a high level and understanding of environmental laws and protection. • To do this the following guide lines are a good starting point: • Waste management, the duty of care: a code of practice • Hazardous waste regulations – list of waste regulations 2005 (www.defra.co.uk) • The Environmental Protection Act, and (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991 • www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ • A guide to the hazardous waste regulations- consignment notes.

23. conclusion • Consider two levels, your company and your suppliers and reflect upon: • The increasing environmental and sustainability profile and influence pressure groups and the public at large • Press articles showcasing poor environmental and ethical practices of UK organisations; could that have easily been you? • Environmental legislation is increasing and becoming more demanding • Recent European Community Directives making manufacturers in many sectors responsible for the disposal of their products at the end of their life. Could your sector be next? • The cost and marketing benefits that are available to an organisation that embraces the environmental agenda • The reputation risk that your organisation faces if it does nothing

24. Thank You For Your Time Any Questions?