What does society think about waste?
Why does society have a problem with waste?
Waste is a remarkably emotive topic. The noun 'waste' is loaded with negative connotations - squandering, failure and loss. The verb 'to waste' connotes feckless extravagance. The Victorians were reluctant to face up to the reality of pollution and insanitary conditions and regarded waste handling as an unspeakable occupation. This made a taboo of waste, and began a cycle that dominated legislation into the twentieth century. A problem is allowed to accumulate until a health scandal or public outburst prompts a spasm of reform. In this way, London sewerage was reformed in the nineteenth century and the Clean Air acts did away with the lethal smog of the 1950s.
What has been the impact of the environmental movement?
The Green movement has broken the social taboo on mentioning waste and put the environment on the economic agenda. In Britain, the public now recognises that the growth of the consumer society has led to a relentless rise in poor environmental control.
Environmentalism has also underlined the world's finite resources, and that the planet's capacity to absorb our rubbish is being overloaded.
On the other hand, environmentalism offers industry new marketing opportunities. Environmental technologies, such as catalytic converters and sewage treatment systems, show how industries have kept pace with consumer demand.
What is the role of legislation?
In the UK, waste management legislation has reflected social concerns. The Environmental Protection Agency seeks to protect the whole environment - land, air and water - through the principle of 'the polluter must pay'.
It is likely that in the long term Governments will use taxation to ensure that the prices of all products will reflect the environmental impact of their manufacturing process, use and ultimate disposal. Potentially, this creates a new area of competitive advantage. Producers will be able to drive down prices by minimising the volume of waste generated and ensuring that the remainder has the least environmental impact.
Effective waste strategies will become an integral part of corporate survival.
How is waste regulated?
There is a popular misconception in Britain that the waste industry is poorly regulated, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Environmental Protection Agency has imposed a strict regime on carriers and disposers, chiefly landfill operators. Anyone wishing to operate disposal, storage and treatment facilities for controlled waste must now hold a licence from the Waste Regulation Authority (WRA). WRAs supervise disposal, imposing conditions on licensees and ensuring correct practice. WRAs now check whether proposed licensees are fit and proper persons to hold a licence.
Although producers and carriers now share liability for the first time, the chief burden of liability still falls on the final disposer. Operators and owners of landfill sites will soon be responsible in perpetuity for correcting any liquid or gaseous emissions from their sites. The consequence is that landfill management is now a long term activity where only those with financial stability should be permitted to operate.
In the United States, if a landfill operator goes bankrupt, liabilities revert back to those whose waste has entered the site during its lifetime.
There is no case law in the UK to support this practice yet, but it would seem prudent for waste producers to check the safety of the final resting place of their rubbish, otherwise it may return to haunt their balance sheet.
Most waste in the UK is subject to regulation. There are two broad categories: those that are subject to a disposal licensing regime - 'controlled wastes' - and those that are not. The second category covers waste from agriculture, mining and quarrying. Although not subject to disposal licensing, these wastes are governed by a range of policy guidelines and regulations.
The waste management industry focuses on 'controlled wastes' from industrial, domestic and commercial activities. Their disposal is governed by a unified licensing regime under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 (CoPA), now being superseded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Within controlled wastes are a much smaller group of 'special wastes' - those that contain substances dangerous to life. Also known as 'hazardous', these are currently governed by CoPA and the Control of Pollution (Special Waste) Regulations 1980, but will very soon fall under the Environmental Protection Agency. A regulatory framework is fine for big operators, but with 3,000 other smaller companies, policing is inherently difficult.
