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Waste watching
Page 52
Page 53
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John Darker talks to the director of the National Association of Waste Disposal Contractors and learns a lot about a specialist, and often hazardous, sector of haulage
AD HAULAGE operators may used to being the media's ipping boys but there is ierstandable resentment in r industry of uninformed icism. There is also resentnt by responsible operators the -cowboyelements, At as fly-tippers, who give ustry as a whole a bad name. It was a real pleasure to meet i Stapleton, director of the tional Association of Waste posal Contractors, and to rn something of a specialist :tor or road haulage with a rthwhile story to tell.
Waste disposal from Jseholds is a subject close to hearts of all ratepayers, es1:ially when refuse collectors hdraw their labour or provide )oor quality service. Waste posals from industry — and .WDC members handle lurid 20m tonnes of unrecovble wastes and residues each — is of vital importance not ly to the productivity of instry but also to the health of community.
For if industrial wastes, are posed of in the wrong place by incorrect methods, the law ikely to intervene. Those road nsport managers who cornin about the extent of legis'lye constraints in non:cialist sectors of the industry iuld have kittens if suddenly ced to work in the waste dissal sector.
It would be laborious to list all
Acts of Parliament which Ach on waste disposal, but a rv may be mentioned to give ) -flavour'' of the industry. They range from Acts which
their title are obviously evant — Deposit of Poisonous aste Act 1972; Control of Ilution Act 1974; The Dumlg at Sea Act 1974; The Cor3ive Substances (Conveyance Road) Regulations 1971 — Acts which sound innocuous ch as The Civic Amenities Act )67 or even The Misuse of ugs Act 1971.
There are Acts dealing with iter supply. river boards, lit ter, sea fisheries, clean air, the countryside, pharmacy and poisons, radioactive substances, chemicals used in farms and gardens, oil in navigable waters, fish protection legislation and much more.
NAWDC has as one of its prime objects the maintenance of an effective Code of Practice, of which more later. It contains a comprehensive list of Acts and Regulations affecting waste disposal from which I have quoted a few fragments. In addition to the well-known road transport legislation there are at least 50 Acts which bear on the work of NAWDC members.
Founded as recently as 1968 by a group of contractors who realised the need for higher standards in an industry becoming ever more complex, NAWDC represents some 90 full members including a number of firms with many operating branches. Equipment and vehicle suppliers for the waste disposals industry, numbering around 40 firms, are Associate Members; there is also a modest-sized list of Affiliates — companies which take a practical interest in waste disposal problems.
Collectively, NAVVDC members operate thousands of vehicles, skips, compaction equipment and so on. The industry is becoming capital intensive and this is reflected by mergers and amalgamations.
Bill Stapleton suggests that the very small operating unit which somehow contrives to stay afloat in some sectors of road haulage will find increasing problems in waste disposal. I found this quite understandable.
NAWDC News (October 1979) highlights the saga of Contract Gully Cleansing Ltd's seven-year struggle to create an industrial effluent treatment plant in Hertfordshire. Costing nearly Pm and with a capacity of dealing with toxic waste liquids and sludges at the rate of 60,000 gallons a day, I would
surmise that developments on this scale may typify the next decade. Strong corporate finance is clearly called for.
There have been one or two cases of small firms in this sector of the industry winning appeals at the Transport Tribunal, against the opposition of larger established undertakings. One, I recall, was a small virtually one-man company run by a highly qualified chemical engineer.
In recent years the larger firms have had to employ qualified technologists, if only to liaise effectively with local authority specialists whose cooperation in approving disposal sites and the disposal methods used is vital for commercial success.
Because of the potential hazards of waste disposal and the obvious environmental problems, local government administers the regulatory framework. Planning consent for waste management projects in England is to be taken away from Districts in favour of County Councils, although District Councils will still be consulted. Counties whose geology fits them for waste dumping of various kinds accept this role reluctantly. Essex County Council, according to a recent report, "has decided to take unilateral action to reduce the amount of hazardous waste coming into the county. The future of Pitsea lies at the heart of the matter." And other Home Counties are restive at the flood of London's household refuse deposited in such places as disused gravel quarries.
London Brick Landfill Ltd, one of the NAWDC members listed in the excellent Trade Directory, has a number of reception sites for waste. The sheer bulk of domestic refuse, the product of what some people consider to be wasteful and extravagant packaging and marketing methods, may cause the industry — and everyone else — some problems as potential disposal sites within economic distance of large urban areas are filled up. Perhaps other constraints, such as energy shortage, will dictate a changed lifestyle?
The NAWDC Code of Practice is very comprehensive and it is shot through with technological complexities from which it is easy to see that certain kinds of wastes unquestionably require expert knowledge for safe handling and disposal.
The first clause of the Code stresses that -Members should ensure that the producer of the waste declares all relevant details of the chemical and physical nature of the waste, its quality, rate of arising and any special properties. Members should warn producers of waste that they are required in contractual terms to notify members of any significant changes of these features.'"
It is to be hoped that all producers of industrial wastes employ staff who know in detail about the properties of the stuff. If a fraction of the stories dealt with in the media in recent years have been true then this is to be doubted. And when there is doubt someone picks up the tab.
I assume from reading NAVVDC's literature that when there is doubt members take steps to have analysed any dubious products; also, in their own interests., they ensure that when liquid or solid wastes have to be mixed for economic movements a knowledgeable special
ist ensures that potential explosive cocktails are avoided.
An interesting requirement of the Code calls for employees to be "of the standard of intelligence applicable to the job.'' Many observers of the transport scene might assume, quite wrongly, that any competent driver could be employed in the waste disposal sector.
NAVVDC's Code calls for induction training to all new entrants with continuation training for all employees covering new equipment, new legislation, and instruction and demonstration on safe working methods and techniques.
Apart from the voluminous legislation affecting waste disposal, a series of official (HMSO) Waste Management Papers — at least 14 to date — help NAWDC members with the technical niceties of disposal and transport.
The -Guidelinessection of the Code includes some tough injunctions: no overloading; the driver must never accept responsibility for mixing wastes; no spillage or splashing permitted; no loading of the wrong material; no environmental, personnel or fire hazards during loading and so on.
Without doubting the good intentions of the Code, I'd be surprised if every clause in a lengthy document is observed in letter and spirit: but a Trade Association . can only be commended for laying down strict rules. If breaches are discovered, corrective action by management should be automatic.
Acceptance of the Code of Practice is enjoined on all applicants for membership of NAWDC. There is a "vetting" procedure by regional and national executive committee members and some applicants, I gather, have been refused.
This is a delicate area: entry requires a majority vote by the committees concerned and unsuccessful bids do not call for an explanation. It may be assumed that the disappointed firms learn that their reputation in some measure makes them unsuitable members of the club.
My own feeling about stringent codes of conduct is that they gain in credibility if, over a period of time, one or two existing members are expelled. This, I gather, has not happened, certainly in the last three years.
Expelling a trade association member firm is a painful business, but it is no less painful, if you want to join a club or professional body, to be put through an unreasonable hoop. Arguably every operator in the waste disposal business should subscribe to the NAWDC Code, but if there is a definable sector of the business where laxer operations hurt no one, then my point is of less substance.
Bill Stapleton says that some small firms in the industry operate older types of equipment, but they can still satisfy customers by giving reliable service. A few small firms compete strongly using the latest equipment. Generally, waste disposal is a growth market, with hundreds of new chemical products requiring to be handled each month.
NAWDC is geared to give a fully professional service to its member firms with a spread of regional committees and technical and co-ordinating committees. It is a striking feature of NAWDC that it has developed lines of communication with many organisations in national and local government, in industry and the environment, as well as bodies within road transport, such as the RHA — there are 15 NAVVDC/RHA jc waste disposal committees.
No one with any concern environmental problems co possibly say that there is effective body representi waste disposal contractors. 1 publicity material produced the organisation seems adrr able, equally for internal a external consumption.
Particularly noteworthy is Guide to Members on the F duction of Contracts for Wa Disposal. Non-member fir who strike deals without ben' of the shared experience of legal and contractual necessit included in the Guide woi seem to me to hazard the selves and their customers.
As an example of effect public relations, a few wor from the introduction to a ‘A produced brochure abc NAWDC may be quoted. "T management of the [waste c posal] business is professioi in its approach and ethical in acceptance of responsibility. embraces many discipline chemists, hydrogeologists a engineers as well as t accepted commercial speci ists.
"'The private sector of t industry, in harmony with public authority counterparts, determined to continue t improvements which have be made in the standards adopt for handling and controlling t disposal of waste. Without n ponsibility there will be no pi gress ."
Looking at the industry aE whole I surmise there are ma more operators outside NAWE than are members. The "oi siders'' doubtless ask thei selves -what's in it for me i• join?'" It is the old old story the minnows and whales from one standpoint, though, noted above, some smi NAWDC members compe effectively with modern equi men t.
From the public standpoir and despite the Governmenreluctance to -interferein i dustrial matters, the prolifer tion of small operators, startii with an old skip, and in an i dustry where there are mai temptations to cut corner raises many questions.
Membership of a trac association may not be the or method of enforcing hic, operating standards, but it cou be cheaper than any burea cratic monitoring scheme. TI problem will not go away.