Changes to environmental legislation

7 April 2009

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Green issues may not be at the forefront of everyone's mind in the current economic downturn, but all businesses do have a legal responsibility for the impact they have on the environment. Spring 2009 sees several changes to environmental legislation that you may need to be aware of.

Environmental damage

If your business carries out activities that causes environmental damage, a new piece of legislation that became effective on 1 March 2009 (Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations) means that you will have to remedy any damage, and that you will no longer have to be prosecuted first.

If you or your activities threaten to cause, or have caused, environmental damage you must:

take steps to prevent the damage (or further damage) occurring
inform the Environment Agency or other authorities who will tell you what you must do to repair the damage.

Restriction of the use of hazardous substances (RoHS)

If you manufacture or import electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) into the EU, or re-brand EEE produced by others, you need to be aware of the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment) Regulations 2009, effective from 6 April.

The regulations limit the amount of hazardous substances that can be used in the manufacture of new electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market anywhere in the European Union (EU). If your business does not comply with the RoHS Regulations, you risk substantial fines.

The regulations cover eight categories of EEE which have a voltage of up to 1000 volts AC or 1500 volts DC:

large household appliances
small household appliances
IT and telecommunication equipment
radios, television sets and musical instruments
some lighting equipment
electrical and electronic tools, such as electric drills and other power tools
toys, leisure and sports equipment
drink and food vending machines.

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

The growth of new technology has created a large amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), much of which contains substances that are harmful to human health and the environment, making it difficult to recycle or dispose of.

The Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment) Regulations 2009 come into force in May and make some small amendments to existing legislation. The WEEE regulations apply to electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) listed in the section above and apply to almost all businesses.

The regulations aim to reduce waste from EEE by encouraging treatment, reuse, recovery, recycling and sound environmental disposal.

Check the Environment Agency website to see if you need to comply.

Don't bin your batteries

Strict rules on battery design, labelling and recycling (Waste Battery and Accumulatior Regulations 2009) are in the process of being enforced, including a complete ban on sending waste batteries to landfill. Virtually every business in the UK uses batteries in some way, so be prepared for regulations on battery recycling and collection, which are expected to be published in spring/summer 2009.

Plaster and plasterboard

In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, as of 1 April, the Environment Agency and Northern Ireland Environment Agency have revised their policies for disposing of gypsum (plaster/plasterboard) waste to landfill. Previously, waste containing less than 10% gypsum could be sent to landfill.

In England and Wales, if you send waste containing any amount of gypsum to landfill it must now go to a separate cell for high sulphate waste.

In Northern Ireland, you must send non-hazardous waste containing any amount of gypsum to a separate cell for high sulphate waste or to a non-hazardous landfill where no biodegradable waste is accepted.

Know where your pollutants go

New groundwater regulations, expected to come into force in spring 2009, tighten the rules on discharges that could pollute groundwater, and cover more substances. If you pollute the water environment, you are probably committing an offence.

Managing hazardous waste

From 6 April, if you produce, move, receive or disposes of hazardous waste in England, or use chemicals and/or products with hazard symbols and/or safety data sheets, the qualifying exemption for notifying the Environment Agency when hazardous waste is produced on premises is being raised from 200 kilograms to 500 kilograms. This means that if you produce less than 500 kilograms of hazardous waste in any 12-month period, you will no longer have to be notify the Environment Agency.

For more information on the environmental responsibilities of businesses by sector see the NetRegs website.

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