Storing hazardous wastes at recycling centres
August 10, 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published guidance on Storing Hazardous Wastes at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
The HSE says that HWRCs, also known as civic amenity sites, often receive a wide range of materials, but in relatively small quantities. Therefore, the document has been designed to provide practical guidance, using principles set out in existing substance-specific guidance.
The document acknowledges that the environment is better protected if hazardous wastes are removed from the waste stream and treated separately by re-use, recycling, recovery or disposal.
However, at the same time, this process of segregation results in greater concentration of potentially hazardous waste and increased handling, with associated hazards of fire, exposure and handling.
The guidance notes that household hazardous wastes cover a wide range of materials that occur in the domestic waste stream, including:
- gas cylinders
- aerosols
- batteries
- oils
- asbestos
- paints and adhesives
- flammable liquids (eg thinners and solvents)
- garden chemicals (eg pesticides)
- household chemicals
- fluorescent tubes and cathode ray tubes
The HSE says that operators of HWRCs accepting household hazardous wastes need to understand the requirements to classify hazardous waste and its carriage on the road. To achieve this, operators will need to have access to competent advice from, for example, dangerous goods safety advisors, internal company environmental law specialists and the Environment Agency/Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
The HSE also emphasises that HWRC operators should have procedures in place for each type of hazardous waste they handle and if this is not the case for any type of hazardous waste, then it should not be accepted at the site.
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