Waste rules crackdown
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• Carriers of hazardous waste face a ban on mixing different loads in a Government crackdown which also puts the onus on hauliers to ensure that consignment notes are registered correctly.
Legislation now before Parliament imposes a "duty of care'' on carriers to ensure that the environment is not endangered. And under the fresh plans unveiled by Environment Minister David Trippier last week, the existing controls on dangerous wastes will be strengthened. "Special waste" will be defined to ensure that the law protects the environment as well as human health.
Following a review of the 1980 Control of Pollution (Special Waste) Regulations, changes will be made to ensure that before special waste is removed from a producer's premises, there must be some control to ensure that it is dumped at a licensed site.
New disposal authorities will be able to recover a "reasonable" charge for administering the consignment note system.
Disposers will be barred from accepting special waste unless they have contracted to do so and have a licence for its disposal. If a consignment is rejected, the haulier involved must return it without "undue" delay to the consignor, and a prohibition will be placed on carriers mixing different con signments of hazardous wastes, or mixing hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
Trippier told MPs: "The Government is committed to improving standards in waste management and disposal." 0 These proposals are complementary to the measures on waste disposal included in Environment Secretary Chris Patten's Environmental Protection Bill, now before Parliament.