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How can you manage your waste effectively?

Minimise the amount of waste you produce.

The best sustainable approach to managing waste is not to produce it in the first instance. More often then not we print items unnecessarily, we order too much, we don’t check for errors before printing, and so on. All these types of actions unfortunately produce waste, which the University not only has to pay for in terms of supplying the paper for example, but has to pay for the disposal too.

By asking yourself some simple questions you can cut down!

• Do I really need to print this?
• Can I send it electronically?
• Does it have to be single sided, could it not be double sided?
• Do I need to staple it; will a paperclip, that can be reused, not do?
• Do I have to buy? Does another department have the item that I need which I could borrow? Could it be leased?

 

Deal with your own waste.

Whether you are a student, staff, a cleaner, or grounds personnel; you produce waste. Some of the responsibility falls on you to be accountable for what you do with that waste. 

Ask yourself:

• Is it actually a waste?
• Can someone else use it?
• If it’s broken, can it be repaired?

The University has a legal obligation to deal with its waste correctly, a process called the Duty of Care. This Duty of Care falls on all of us to ensure safe practices are followed. If you don’t know what to do with a waste item, ask!

 

Identify the hazards in the waste.

Waste can be classified as general, special or clinical. Special waste contains properties that may be hazardous to human health and to the environment, therefore they require careful disposal. Clinical waste also contains properties that may be harmful and requires similar disposal to special wastes.

Some waste items will be clearly labelled and will advise of their nature, however others won’t. If you are unsure whether a waste is general, special, or clinical, please ask. It is important that wastes are identified correctly so that they can be treated safely once collected for onward processing or disposal.

A further source of information that can assist you in identification processes is the European Waste Catalogue, see the links page for more details.

 

Assessing Special (hazardous) Waste

Summary Information

This section has been prepared in order to help Staff, Researchers and Students from the University assess whether or not the waste that they are / will be producing should be disposed of as Special Waste. 

The information provided below is guidance summarised from the regulators publication on special waste. If you do not understand or are unable to find the information you require, please contact the Waste and Environmental Manager.

You should follow these steps when trying to clarify whether your waste is special or not.

• Identify the composition of the waste (using Appendicies A and B below if necessary)
• Identify the risk phrases that apply to each component in the waste. The HSE Approved Supplier List, or alternative sources such as Safety Data Sheets should be used to give all the risk phrases for the waste.
• Use the following table (click here) which shows substance risk phrases with the associated hazardous property, to identify the relevant hazards and threshold concentrations that apply to each component.
• Record the hazards and threshold concentrations for each component on a risk assessment form.
• Determine whether the threshold concentrations recorded are exceeded. If so, the whole consignment will be hazardous and will need consigning as special waste.

Please be reminded it is illegal to dispose of special waste other tha via an authorised contractor. It should also not be co-mingled with general refuse. It should never be disposed of down drains or sewer.

Technical Guidance from the Regulator

The Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service, provides technical guidance for classifying hazardous waste. The documents detailed below intend to be a reference for all legislation where reference is made to hazardous waste and its management, and provides guidance in the assessment of waste to all involved in the production, management, and control of hazardous waste.

The second edition of this guidance document was updated in October 2006 to accommodate changes.

Technical Guidance - Introduction
Appendix A - Contains the European Waste Catalogue (EWC) and codes
Appendix B - Contains information on potential hazards for absolute and mirror entries in the EWC
Appendix C
Appendix D
Glossary of terms

Segregate and contain the waste.

Waste items should be stored appropriately and clearly labelled to ensure any personnel dealing with that item is not at risk at any time, and understands the nature of the task they are dealing with.

The which bin guide can assist you in making a decision as to where waste should go.

 

Transfer sufficient information.

It is important that any personnel within your office or department are aware of where waste should go. This can be incorporated into the staff induction process.

For further guidance speak with the Waste and Environmental Manager.

 

Use licensed and audited carriers and disposers.

All waste contractors collecting waste from the University have to be authorised waste carriers and transport the material to a licensed treatment facility. It is the responsibility of the Waste and Environmental Manager to ensure that this happens. Waste can be provided to charities as long as an exemption certificate is supplied or they can offer a waste transfer note.