Illegal waste activities cost the UK economy as much as £800 million every year through illegal waste sites and the damage they cause along with tax evasion and fly tipping, with an estimated 56% of UK businesses not complying with the law. A new campaign led by the Environmental Services Association (ESA) has just been launched to raise the profile of Duty of Care, aimed towards waste producing businesses to ensure that they meet their legal obligations. The campaign will also be used to highlight the significance of taking waste management responsibility and tackling waste crime.
The campaign tackles the lack of compliance around the growing problem of waste crime, with 2014/15 seeing an increased number of incidents recorded to 900,000 in England – representing an 11% increase on the previous year1.
One such illegal waste case was recently reported in Norfolk, where a man was jailed for 15 months for running an illegal waste site without planning permission or environmental permit to deposit, store, dispose and treat waste. Waste operator, Mark Fuller, continued to breach the Enforcement Notice, even after pleading guilty. Read article.
What is Duty of Care?
Businesses who produce, carry, keep, dispose of, treat, import or have control of controlled waste must fulfil a legal obligation (Duty of Care) to take all reasonable steps to keep it safe, as set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Controlled waste includes waste from households, businesses and industry.
The campaign is managed by the Environmental Services Association (ESA), sponsored by the Environment Agency (EA), the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) and the Environmental Services Association Education Trust (ESAET) and supported by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Build UK, The National Farmers Union (NFU), Veolia, Travis Perkins, URoC, SUEZ and The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC).
For more information visit: https://www.rightwasterightplace.com/#intro