More rigorous steps must be taken to clamp down on illegal waste management activities commented CIWM in light of the Environment Agency’s Spotlight on business report released today.CIWM chief executive Steve Lee said: ‘We wholly support the Environment Agency’s concern about breaches of the law such as fly-tipping and unauthorised export of waste. With illegal activity accounting for one third of serious pollution incidents in the waste sector, it is clear that a considerable amount still needs to be done to defeat the rogue traders.
‘We must have a properly funded, strong regulator to cut cheats and criminals out of the system. Once cases reach court, they should be backed up by sufficiently severe penalties that act as a proper deterrent and outweigh the high profits that criminals are making. Currently, this is frequently not the case.
‘We also need tighter control on businesses that carry waste. Currently it is relatively easy to become a registered waste carrier, and many operators face few regulatory requirements. The Government should use legislative instruments such as ‘Duty of Care’ to tighten up controls. Carriers could be graded according to the type and quantity of waste they transport, with a scale of requirements for these businesses to meet. For high volume or hazardous waste this could include an assessment of their technical competence regarding waste management.’
It is heartening that the environmental management of waste management sites is amongst the best of all sites assessed by the Environment Agency; however, there is clearly no cause for complacency. Steve Lee added: ‘It is sobering to think that the waste sector is now the biggest single cause of serious, business-related incidents. With the growing complexity of issues facing the sector, CIWM believes that on-going education and training for waste professionals at all levels will be a key factor in ensuring that they can meet the challenges.
This education process clearly needs to carry through to waste producers. Lee said: With 94% of SMEs believing that they have no environmental impact, a lot remains to be done to the key messages across. We need strong, on-going Government-led communications programmes, and everyone working in the waste sector should do all that they can to support and supplement these.’
