Regulations change from one day to another and it happens in absolutely any industry too. Whether it’s the automotive industry, the agricultural industry or even the sanitation industry that we’re a part of here at euroloo. You may know, thanks to a lot of our previous blogs and helpful advice we’ve handed out to customers in the last year or so that regulations have changed a great deal when it comes to Health and Safety at work. As such, companies have had to adjust the way they work to ensure they’re on the right side of HSE ruling and now, with regulations set to change once more in favour of employees and their right to use the toilet during working hours, it looks set to change once again. Before we forget however, change can be good and it isn’t something we should be frowning on. Today however, it isn’t portable toilet hire that we’re going to be focusing on. Instead, we’re going to be looking at the change to legislation regarding hazardous waste that came in to action on April 1st of this year, 2016. As a company that works with septic tanks and portable toilets and subsequently the removal of hazardous waste, this has obviously effected us. We thought it only right, to fill you in on exactly what’s going on and just how, if at all, this effects you.
It’s the 17th April, which means 16 days ago, the Environment Agency implemented changes to the regulations surrounding hazardous waste. The changes to the regulations have meant that premises within England no longer need to register as “hazardous waste producers” regardless of the amount that they produce or store on their site. So what can be considered hazardous waste? Well, this is generally anything that’s considered harmful to either human health, animals and livestock or the environment itself. Hazardous waste can therefore include anything from asbestos, battery acid, solvent based paints, pesticides and of course human excrement. Despite the lack of registration now, a completed consignment note must still be completed for all hazardous waste that’s destined for disposal although the new regulations will mean a change to the format of this. In order to accommodate this change, the producer will need to amend the first six characters on the consignment note which is currently the premises registration number. This will need to be changed to the first six letters or numbers of the business name. The producer of the waste must then continue to use the business name consistently. The second set of characters however will still continue to be the five numbers of the producer’s choice.
The decision to implement this change has been made by DEFRA (department for the environment, food and rural affairs) and is all part of the Smarter Environmental Regulation. Further regulations are also being reviewed with either improvements being made or complete deletion. If you have any questions on how this may affect you, please feel free to contact us here at euroloo for further information. If you’d like more information on our septic tank services, then take a look at our website right here.
