Hazardous Waste Management
Any substances or materials that can cause damage to human health or the environment are considered to be hazardous. This includes a huge variety of things such as chemicals, oils, harmful components found in electrical items, some light bulbs and asbestos to name just a few.
When running a business it is important to take into consideration the environmental management that you have in place.
You have to consider the following things:
- What the hazardous waste is within your company
- How much waste goes through each building of your company? If you use or produce more than 500kg you will have to register with the Environmental Agency.
- How you store the waste between its usage-life and removal. You have to make sure it is stored correctly and labelled. You have to check the storage regularly for signs of damage or leaks and maintain an up to date inventory system.
- Train your employees how to correctly cope with any spills involving the waste, and how to correctly store and handle the substances.
- Apply extra safety controls when moving the waste. You cannot store any hazardous waste for more than 12 months. Therefore you must know how to move it correctly, where to take it and be aware of all the disposal options you have available depending on the type of substance you are dealing with.
- Ensure any carrier transporting or moving your waste is licensed for the job. You will need to fill in consignment forms and ensure that you meet the requirements of moving dangerous goods.
- If you need to treat the waste understand what processes have to be taken such as physical, biological, chemical and thermal processes. Can you make it less hazardous? Is it possible to reduce the size and volume of it and make it less difficult to handle? The appropriate treatments will need to be taken.
- Disposing of the substances requires you to use only licensed waste sites. To do this you will need to check that the waste carrier has been registered with the Environmental Agency.
Book your place on an environmental course to learn more about controlling the hazardous waste within your organisation.