Landfill Regulations 2002

– The United Kingdom has been heavily reliant on landfill sites.

In 2000 – 2001 a total of 28.2 million tonnes of municipal waste was produced, of which 23 million tonnes (79%) was land filled. Only 12% was recycled or composted and 8% was incinerated with energy recovery. UK waste is growing by 4% every year – this is one of the fastest European growth rates for waste.

The Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC), which was adopted by the European Union in 1999, is beginning to radically change the way the UK handles waste. The directive was brought into force in the UK on June 15 2002 as the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002. Since then it has been introduced gradually to give the UK industry time to adapt.

Read the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 here.

The regulations have reclassified waste disposal sites as inert, hazardous or non-hazardous. The directive also bans liquids and certain materials from landfills and tightens site monitoring and engineering standards. It will be supplemented by the new European Waste Catalogue, which has extended the range of materials classified as ‘hazardous’ and the Waste Acceptance Criteria, which will introduce stringent pre-treatment requirements.

Our plant at Recyclo Waste Management process non-hazardous waste only.