UK Regulations & Zero Waste to Landfill
Zero Waste
The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 came into force on 29th March 2011 and introduced the legal requirement for organisations to apply the waste hierarchy when dealing with waste. The waste hierarchy ranks waste management options and gives priority to preventing waste in the first place followed by minimisation, re-using waste, recycling waste materials for new products and then energy recovery by way of treatment options and last of all landfill. This means organisations must take all reasonable steps to prevent and reduce waste. In Scotland the Waste (Scotland) Regulations came into force on the 1st January 2014. As part of the Scottish Regulations there is a landfill ban on municipal biodegradable waste by 2020 which is the first ban of its kind in the UK and all businesses and organisations require to separate key materials; plastic, glass, metals, paper and card for recycling. Scottish Food businesses (accept in rural areas) which produce over 50kg of food waste per week to present food waste for separate collection from 1st January 2014 and businesses producing over 5kg per week (accept in rural areas) to present food waste for separate collection from 1st January 2016.
Government Plans
The UK Government has announced plans for the Green Future of the UK, with a 25-year plan to cut pollution and ease pressure on the environment. A new national resource and waste strategy will be developed in 2018 which will illustrate how the UK can maximise the value of resources during the product life cycle. The Strategy states its ambition for the UK to send zero avoidable waste to landfill by 2050, as well as sending no food waste to landfill by 2030.
Our Focus
William Campbell Recycling is focused on education and awareness programmes with our customers to prevent waste by not creating waste, reduce waste at source, re-use waste by giving waste materials a second life, increase recycling by producing new products and minimise waste sent to energy recovery disposal facilities. Zero Waste to Landfill is an important financial and environmental benefit for our customers and improves their environmental performance and meets the legal requirements of the UK Waste Regulations. Zero Waste to Landfill means waste which cannot be reused or recycled via methods such as energy from waste and anaerobic digestion facilities.