The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 No. 988

PART 5 U.K. Duties in relation to waste management and improved use of waste as a resource

Duty in relation to the waste hierarchy U.K.

12.—(1) An establishment or undertaking which imports, produces, collects, transports, recovers or disposes of waste, or which as a dealer or broker has control of waste must, on the transfer of waste, take all such measures available to it as are reasonable in the circumstances to apply the following waste hierarchy as a priority order—

(a) prevention;

(b) preparing for re-use;

(c) recycling;

(d) other recovery (for example energy recovery);

(e) disposal.

(2) But an establishment or undertaking may depart from the priority order in paragraph (1) so as to achieve the best overall environmental outcome where this is justified by life-cycle thinking on the overall impacts of the generation and management of the waste.

(3) When considering the overall impacts mentioned in paragraph (2), the following considerations must be taken into account—

(a) the general environmental protection principles of precaution and sustainability;

(b) technical feasibility and economic viability;

(c) protection of resources;

(d) the overall environmental, human health, economic and social impacts.

Duties in relation to collection of waste U.K.

[F1 13.—F2 (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2) Subject to paragraph (4), an establishment or undertaking which collects waste paper, metal, plastic or glass must do so by way of separate collection.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), every waste collection authority must, when making arrangements for the collection of waste paper, metal, plastic or glass, ensure that those arrangements are by way of separate collection.

[F3 (4) The duties in this regulation apply where separate collection is necessary to ensure that waste undergoes preparing for re-use, recycling or other recovery operations in accordance with Articles 4 and 13 of the Waste Framework Directive and to facilitate or improve preparing for re-use, recycling or recovery, unless one of the following conditions is met—

(a) collecting the waste paper, metal, plastic or glass together results in output from those operations which is of comparable quality to that achieved through separate collection;

(b) separate collection of the waste does not deliver the best environmental outcome when considering the overall environmental impacts of the management of the relevant waste streams;

(c) separate collection of the waste is not technically feasible taking into consideration good practices in waste collection; or

(d) separate collection of the waste would entail disproportionate economic costs taking into account the costs of adverse environmental and health impacts of mixed waste collection and treatment, the potential for efficiency improvements in waste collection and treatment, revenues from sales of secondary raw materials as well as the application of the polluter-pays principle and extended producer responsibility.]]

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 13 substituted (1.10.2012) by The Waste (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/1889), regs. 1(2), 2(2)

F2 Reg. 13(1) omitted (1.10.2020) by virtue of The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/904), regs. 1(1), 15(7)(a)

F3 Reg. 13(4) substituted (1.10.2020) by The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/904), regs. 1(1), 15(7)(b)

Duty in relation to collected waste U.K.

[F4 14.— (1) Subject to paragraph (2), an establishment or undertaking which collects, transports or receives waste must ensure that where that waste has been separately collected it is not mixed with other material with different properties.]

[F4 (2) The duty in paragraph (1) applies where keeping waste separate is necessary to ensure that waste undergoes preparing for re-use, recycling or other recovery operations in accordance with Articles 4 and 13 of the Waste Framework Directive and to facilitate or improve preparing for re-use, recycling or recovery, unless one of the following conditions is met—

(a) mixing certain types of waste together results in output from those operations which is of comparable quality to that achieved through keeping waste separate;

(b) keeping waste separate does not deliver the best environmental outcome when considering the overall environmental impacts of the management of the relevant waste streams;

(c) keeping waste separate is not technically feasible taking into consideration good practices in waste collection; or

(d) keeping waste separate would entail disproportionate economic costs taking into account the costs of adverse environmental and health impacts of mixed waste collection and treatment, the potential for efficiency improvements in waste collection and treatment, revenues from sales of secondary raw materials as well as the application of the polluter-pays principle and extended producer responsibility.]

Textual Amendments

F4 Reg. 14(1)(2) substituted (1.10.2020) by The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/904), regs. 1(1), 15(8)

Guidance U.K.

15.—(1) The appropriate authority may give guidance on the discharge of the duties in regulations 12 to 14.

(2) An establishment or undertaking discharging any of the duties in regulations 12 to 14 must, in doing so, have regard to any such guidance.