Marking 50 years since the first Control of Pollution Act 1974

2 December, 2024 | Environmental legislation, Waste Management

I am shocked that the 50th anniversary of the first environment control legislation in the 1970s, and specifically the UK’s Control of Pollution Act 1974 (CoPA) has received so little attention and celebration. So I have written a Comment piece on CoPA’s Golden Jubilee for resource.co, one of the leading online news sites read by (UK) waste and resource management professionals.

The waste and resource sector as we know it only exists due to strong and effectively enforced legislation to create a ‘level playing field’, which in principle should enable investment without fear of being undercut by lower standard facilities or indeed by waste criminals. Prior to legislation in the 1970s, the norm for collected wastes was disposal in uncontrolled or partially controlled ‘landfills’ which were often permanently on fire. As I have documented in my recent magnum opus, we have come a long way in 50 years, but we also still have a long way to go. That was illustrated starkly by the announcement in November 2024 of the closure of a UK state-of-the-art plastics recycling facility after just two years.

Hazardous Waste – Plus ça Change

31 August, 2018 | Conference, Waste Management

CIWM President, and Chair of CIWM’s Hazardous Waste Special Interest Group (SIG), David C Wilson reflects in his August CIWM column on the challenges facing hazardous waste management in the UK and Ireland – past, present and future. His review with the SIG of current challenges suggests that not much has changed over the 44 years of his involvement with the hazardous waste sector. In particular, the UK continues to lack the ‘regulatory certainty’ which is necessary to secure the investment required in hazardous waste management infrastructure if such investment is left entirely to ‘the market’. And looking at the island of Ireland in particular, the uncertainties around Brexit do not help.