A new legal requirement for waste generators and handlers to implement the waste hierarchy, which requires precedence to be given to waste prevention, reuse and recycling, prior to consideration of recovery or disposal, came into force on 28 September 2011, following transposition into UK law of the 2008 revised Waste Framework Directive. Defra published guidelines on how to apply the hierarchy to hazardous wastes on 30 November 2011.
Professor David C Wilson has represented the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) on the Hazardous Waste Steering Group that has advised Defra on developing the guidelines, and also on the Technical Working Group that assisted the Environment Agency on drafting the guidelines. DCW chairs CIWM’s Special Interest Group on hazardous wastes.