Waste

Space debris

Human activities produce waste.There is a catalogue of waste legislation in the UK, most of it deriving from the European Union (EU), from the Waste Framework Directive to the Batteries Directive and many, many more in between. However, no matter where we venture we leave a wake of rubbish. As a result of the use […]

Waste4Fuel or waste for fools?

Contempt proceedings The Environment Agency has failed in its attempt for a committal for contempt against a Kent waste company, Waste4Fuel, and its directors following a hearing in the High Court in London and a judgment handed down on 21 July 2014: see The Environment Agency v Hughes and Others [2014] EWHC 2484 (QB). The […]

Welsh levy on carrier bags

In the last decades various countries have introduced legislation to incentivise people to reduce the number of carrier bags they use. Countries have either chosen to ban the use or introduce a levy on plastic bags. On the 1st October 2011, Wales became the first political and legislative jurisdiction in the UK to introduce a […]

The waste (E&W) regulations

The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (S. I. 2011/988) came into force on 29 March 2011 with the exception of Regulation 12 in relation to the waste hierarchy (see below) which will come into force later in the year. The Regulations are necessary largely to transpose the revisions to the Waste Framework Directive (Directive […]

Nuclear waste

The UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has just published its long-awaited consultation on options for dealing with stocks of plutonium: Management of the UK’s Plutonium Stocks: A Consultation on the Long-Term Management of UK owned separated civil Plutonium (Issued 7 February 2011 and available from the DECC website. The UK has a […]

Ireland takes back waste

A multi-million pound project to shift waste from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland begins this month. It is estimated that 250,000 tonnes of waste dumped illegally in Northern Ireland will be dug out and taken back over the border. Infraction This operation follows infraction proceedings taken by the European Commission against both the […]

Nuclear statutory corporation

Government is presently consulting on institutional reforms in the nuclear sector, put together following a nuclear regulatory review conducted by Tim Stone, a senior Government Advisor. The Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Works and Pensions propose to create a new independent regulator to be known as the Nuclear Statutory Corporation. […]

New portable batteries obligations

You will have new legal obligations if, anywhere in the UK, you sell more than 32kg of portable batteries per year or place portable batteries on the UK market. The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 (the Batteries Regulations) came into force on 5 May 2009, covering collection, treatment and recycling obligations for portable, industrial […]