Hazardous Waste Policy Health and Safety Services
Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
HAZARDOUS WASTE POLICY 1
Introduction
The University has a ‘Duty of Care’ to ensure that any waste produced is handled safely and in accordance with the law. In general this means that we must:1.
Prevent anyone keeping, depositing, disposing of or recovering our ‘controlled waste’ without a waste management licence or an exemption from the need for a licence. We must also ensure that the waste management licence has not been suspended or partially revoked and that we are not in breach of the conditions of that licence or exemption.
2.
Stop materials escaping from our control or the control of anyone else by packaging it appropriately and robustly.
keep, treat or dispose of controlled waste knowingly cause or permit controlled waste to be kept, treated or disposed of
Unless a waste management licence or appropriate permit has been issued, which authorises the operation in question. It is also an offence to keep, treat or dispose of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health. B The Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005 The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 were implemented on 16th July 2005. They replace the Special Waste Regulations, and the main changes brought about by the new regulations are:1.
Hazardous waste producers are required to pre-register before any hazardous waste can be collected from their premises. It is an offence to produce hazardous waste on site without being registered with the Environment Agency.
3.
Ensure that our waste is only transferred to an authorised person.
4.
Ensure that the waste being transferred is accompanied by a written description that will enable anyone receiving it to dispose of it or handle it in accordance with his or her own Duty of Care.
2.
When concerned with hazardous waste, some of the above duties are contained within the following legislation:
The Regulations apply the ‘European Waste Catalogue’ codes of Hazardous Wastes that affect a much wider range of producers than previously.
3.
The Regulations ban the mixing of Hazardous Wastes and state that they must be stored separately on site.
A The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 The EPA 1990 (amended 1995) provides the main statutory framework in relation to waste. In particular the document defines waste, establishes the criminal offences in relation to waste and establishes the statutory Duty of Care in relation to waste. Section 33(1) makes it an offence to:
deposit controlled waste knowingly permit controlled waste to be deposited in or on land
Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
C List of Wastes (England) Regulation 2005 These regulations set out a list of wastes which can be produced by industry and other activities. It allows for the determination of whether a waste is to be considered as ‘hazardous’, thereby falling under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005. It also provides for the classification and coding of the wastes, which are used by the disposal companies when collecting the waste.
D Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (WEEE)
and national legislation, as documented in this policy.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations put responsibilities on the producers of such equipment to set up or be part of a ‘producer collection scheme’ for its collection, treatment, recycling and environmentally sound disposal after use.
iii
As a consumer of electrical and electronic equipment, the University has a duty, under the WEEE regulations to arrange for the proper disposal of waste electrical equipment through a ‘producer collection scheme’ or by its own appropriate arrangements. 2
University Responsibilities
i
Registration
The Director of Health and Safety Services is responsible for arranging for the central registration with the Environment Agency of all sites which dispose of Hazardous Waste. ii
Specific waste streams
The Director of Health and Safety Services is responsible for ensuring adequate arrangements are in place for the correct disposal of Chemical and Biological hazardous Waste at the Hull Campus, holding the budget for all such waste corporately. The Head of Department of Physical Sciences is responsible for the routine management of the chemical waste disposal arrangements within the Chemistry Department and for negotiating the chemical waste disposal contract with appropriate waste disposal companies. The Director of Facilities is responsible for the disposal of all other hazardous and nonhazardous waste. Heads of Departments and Sections are responsible for ensuring that all waste produced within their areas of responsibility is disposed of through the correct waste streams and in accordance with University procedures Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
Segregation and Documentation
The responsible persons named above are responsible for providing the necessary segregated waste streams for the disposal of hazardous waste and the facilities to store them and for arranging for the consignment and delivery of these waste streams by licensed contractors to authorised disposal sites. They are also responsible for keeping central records of all disposals. Health and Safety Services staff are also responsible for advising, on request, Faculties and Departments on whether a waste is hazardous or not, methods of correct labelling and packaging and the correct disposal route. The Chemistry Department is specifically responsible for giving advice and guidance on the correct segregation and labelling of waste chemicals for disposal, and has discharged this responsibility by putting clear detailed guidance on their website (www.hull.ac.uk/chemstores/waste.htm) 3
Departmental and Individual Responsibilities
Heads of Departments should ensure that all personnel producing waste within their department are aware of the different waste streams within the University and how they need to segregate, store, label and deliver different waste containers prior to disposal. They should also ensure that all electrical items are entered into the central purchasing inventory, managed by the Purchasing Officer, in compliance with the WEEE Regulations. Details of the current waste streams and relevant contacts are given in the appendix to this document. It is the responsibility of each department to determine if the waste is hazardous or not and ensure the correct waste stream is used. If in doubt, advice can be obtained from Health and Safety Services. To reinforce good practice, detailed waste disposal arrangements should be included in the COSHH assessments of all experimental work.
Waste containers should be correctly labelled in accordance with current University procedures. Details of the labelling requirements should be obtained from the person responsible for final disposal, as listed in the appendix. Items not correctly labelled will not be accepted by those people. Heads of Department should ensure that facilities are available within departments to store the different categories of waste safely and securely until taken for final disposal. The accumulation of waste within departments should be kept to a minimum for operational requirements. Regular transfer of waste to the central collection points should be an integral part of normal good working procedures and should be managed on an individual area basis by the person responsible for each area. New researchers should be given clear guidance on the requirement to ensure the correct waste disposal procedures are followed and the need to work together with co-workers to keep waste accumulation to a minimum and ensure that, particularly where waste chemical disposal containers are shared, there are no incompatibilities in the contents which could lead to reactions taking place within containers during storage. It should be remembered that some waste, by its nature, is sensitive and if left on public view, could give rise to adverse security and safety issues. Sensitive waste should always be kept in secure locations away from public areas. For this reason it is particularly important that central disposal facilities are not overloaded to the extent that overflow storage occurs. If there is likely to be a production of waste which exceeds the normal capacity to store it, this should be notified to the person responsible for final disposal or to Safety Services, before it becomes a problem, so that a proactive response can be made. Because waste is still the responsibility of the producers, right up to the point of final disposal, and can be traced back to them via the consignment documentation (the retention by the producer of a copy of which is a requirement under the regulations), individuals or groups are advised to keep duplicate Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
records of the contents of waste containers they produce in their own areas. In addition to providing back-up evidence in the event of problems arising at the waste disposal site or in transit to that site, it will also provide vital evidence in the case of an accident involving the waste which may result in it being damaged or destroyed.
Appendix 1
SUMMARY OF WASTES The waste streams which exist within the University are as follows:1. NON-HAZARDOUS WASTE Confidential Waste For Incineration - Hull - this should be placed in the bags supplied by the campus portering service who will remove full bags to take for incineration on request. For deep burial at landfill - Hull - Large quantities can be taken to the Washburn car park on the West Campus, where a secure dedicated skip is sited. The skip is then taken to a licensed landfill site where the contents are consigned to deep burial. In both the above cases, for further information, contact Sally Campbell
[email protected] Scarborough - confidential waste is bagged centrally and taken to Hull for disposal through their system. See Shaun Wadsworth
[email protected] for details. Electrical Equipment This comes under separate legislation (The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations WEEE), and includes such things as fridges, ovens, incubators, televisions, computer parts and smaller items. N.B. The University requires all departments to list all their electrical items on the central purchasing inventory and to mark them on the inventory as disposed of when this is done. For further information about this contact the Purchasing Officer, John Chapman
[email protected] Hull - waste electrical equipment is stored prior to collection in a compound on the West Campus. To dispose of electrical goods, speak to Sally Campbell Tel:5065. Scarborough - Items are collected centrally by Shaun Wadsworth and either transported to Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
Hull for disposal (smaller items) as above or, in the case of larger items, collected by the local Council. 2. HAZARDOUS WASTE Hazardous waste includes, among other things, chemicals, biological material, clinical waste, asbestos, batteries, electrical equipment and fluorescent tubes, all of which have separate waste streams. In order to dispose of any of these things, each University site has to be registered annually with the Environment Agency. People who deal directly with hazardous waste have all been given the codes for their sites, so there is no need for all departments to know the codes, but they must know what to do with each category of waste. Chemical Waste Hull All chemical waste must be disposed of via the Chemistry department. It should be segregated in accordance with University procedures (see below), collected in correctly labelled containers and taken to the Chemistry store. Labels and instructions for segregation can be obtained from the stores technician and full details of the procedures are available on the Chemistry web site. www.hull.ac.uk/chemstores/waste.htm Chemicals will only be accepted for disposal if they are correctly identified and labelled. (See also Safety Services You Need to Know document YNTK 01/06). Scarborough - chemical waste is collected centrally and disposed of by contractors via Shaun Wadsworth, who should be consulted on the correct segregation and labelling of waste. Clinical Waste Prior to final disposal all clinical waste should be stored correctly and safely within labs. In the case of sharps, this should be in sharps bins, and in the case of materials which require pre-disposal sterilisation this should be in autoclave bags or bins. All other materials should be put directly into yellow clinical waste bags and stored securely, and appropriately, bearing in mind the sensitive or perishable
nature of some types of clinical waste, particularly if there is going to be a delay before final collection. For disposal purposes, clinical waste falls into 2 categories:a) Non-hazardous this includes autoclaved material, pipette tips and other plastics which come from laboratories. Hull - these should be taken to Biological Sciences in the Hardy building where there is a secure dedicated skip which is taken to a licensed landfill site to be consigned to deep burial. Contact the storekeeper for the key (5520). Scarborough - these are collected centrally through Shaun Wadsworth and disposed of by contractors. b) Hazardous - this includes anything which is a biohazard or has been in contact with a biohazard, including gloves, sharps, tissues etc Hull - Clinical waste wheelie bins are kept securely in the Hardy building on the East Campus and the Loxley building on the West Campus. Clinical waste for disposal should be delivered either to the Biological Sciences Storekeeper in Hardy (5520) or to Rachel Cunningham in the Medical School (4144) and signed for. At both the above collection points, bags will be tagged with colour-coded tags appropriate to the level of risk, by the above persons. Scarborough - biological waste and sharps are collected centrally and tagged as above by Shaun Wadsworth and taken away by the Council as part of their clinical waste collection service Batteries Hull - Spent batteries are collected in a secure area on the West Campus. This is managed by Sally Campbell who should be contacted for details. Batteries are sorted into 3 categories:Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
a) Wet Cell b) Dry cell non-rechargeable c) Dry cell rechargeable Batteries containing Cadmium or Mercury can also be taken to the Chemistry store for disposal Scarborough batteries are collected centrally by Shaun Wadsworth and taken to the local recycling site. Asbestos Asbestos waste from both Hull and Scarborough is disposed of through the University Asbestos Co-ordinator, Colin Stevens, (6380), who should be contacted regarding anything to do with asbestos. Asbestos removed from either campus as part of an asbestos removal contract is disposed of by the contractors. Fluorescent sodium and mercury vapour lamps Hull - these are stored securely on the East Campus. To dispose of these items, contact the Electrical Supervisor on (5091). Scarborough - these are collected at a central point and disposed of by contractors via Shaun Wadsworth. Toner Cartridges Hull – Ricoh Toners should be returned to the collection box in Venn. All others should be sent back to Lyreco Scarborough – Ricoh Toners to be returned to box at Reception other makes collected centrally by Margaret Ayre
[email protected] and removed by contractors. Large sharp objects Whilst small sharp objects can be put into sharps bins in the laboratory areas, larger objects, such as guillotine blades, large
knives etc, from either Campus can be disposed of through the Facilities workshops in Hull , tel. 5095.
point from where recyclable waste is collected by the Council. For details of the central storage facility, speak to Shaun Wadsworth.
Radioactive waste Certain other items This comes under the Radioactive Substances Act and all radioactive waste must be disposed of in Hull through the Radiation Protection Adviser, Tim Coldwell (
[email protected]) who is based in the Health and Safety Services Office tel: 6992. Scarborough There is radiation work taking place.
currently
no
Effluent The University has a Trade Effluent Consent for the Hull campus, which means that we can only dispose of controlled amounts of certain substances via the drains and that some substances cannot be put down the drains at all. In order to ensure that we never exceed the controlled amounts, which are very low in some cases, the University operates a Zero Tolerance policy in that no chemicals on the Red List (see Appendix 2) should be put down the drains at any time. Both Yorkshire Water and Dr McCreedy monitor the effluent drains at regular intervals. For further information contact Dr McCreedy
[email protected] in Chemistry (6407) or consult the Chemistry Safety Manual http://www.hull.ac.uk/chemistry/safety.php Scarborough - there is no such consent, and non-hazardous chemicals can be put down the sink with plenty of water. Hazardous chemicals are collected by contractors as in the chemicals section above. RECYCLING Paper, Glass and Plastic - Hull Recycling bins have been allocated to all buildings on each floor. They are emptied daily or on request to Sally Campbell if they become full more quickly. Scarborough - the situation is similar, with bins in the buildings and a central collection Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
Hull - clothes, shoes, glass plastic etc can also be put in the designated containers at the north side of University House or outside the Sports Centre Scrap metal is collected centrally on the west campus by Sally Campbell Scarborough - cardboard is collected centrally by Shaun Wadsworth for disposal If in any doubt about the correct waste disposal route, please contact either Sally Campbell (5065), Shaun Wadsworth (7305), or Health and Safety Services (5165) For further information about recycling and related environmental issues, see http://www2.hull.ac.uk/administration/enviro nmental/recyclingandwaste.aspx
Appendix 2 RED LIST AND RESTRICTED COMPOUNDS CHEMICALS ETC A COMPANY MAY WISH TO DISCHARGE IT IS ILLEGAL TO DISCHARGE ANY CHEMICAL/ELEMENT/MATERIAL UNLESS IT IS LISTED IN THE COMPANY'S PERMIT TO DISCHARGE (CALLED A CONSENT) TOTALLY BANNED ELEMENTS Calcium carbide Petroleum spirits (Petrol/Diesel/Fuel Oils etc) Mineral oils (Engine Oils etc) Materials producing flammable vapours (Solvents etc) o
Discharges exceeding 43.3 C Materials dangerous to staff working in the sewers Materials damaging to the fabric of the sewers or the sewage works PRESCRIBED SUBSTANCES STRICTLY CONTROLLED IN CONJUNCTION WITH HMIP RED LIST Mercury and its compounds Cadmium and its compounds Gamma-Hexachlorocyclohexane DDT Pentachlorophenol and its compounds Hexachlorobenzene Hexachlorobutadiene Aldrin Dieldrin Endrin Carbon Tetrachloride Polychlorinated Biphenyls Dichlorvos 1, 2-Dichloroethane Trichlorobenzene Atrazine Simazine Tributyltin compounds Triphenyltin compounds Trifluralin Fenitrothion Azinphos-methyl Malathion Endosulfan
Hazardous Waste Policy Health & Safety Services Approved by SMT September 2007 (Content Review March 2011)
STRICTLY CONTROLLED BY YORKSHIRE WATER SERVICES (Restrictions detailed in the Company’s Trade Effluent Consent) pH Settleable solids Chemical oxygen demand Oil/grease Sulphates Sulphides Cyanides Metals Halogenated compounds (inc. chlorinated solvents) Phenolic groups Benzene related compounds Water soluble solvents] Aldehydes Ketones Surfactants Materials toxic to the sewage works and the environment
