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Management

Government urged to publicise waste rules

Monday, 29 October 2007

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the Environment Agency to do more to publicise major changes to waste disposal laws, which came into force on Tuesday.

Under the rules implementing the EU Landfill Directive, liquid waste will be banned from landfill and all landfill waste will have to be pre-treated. The changes will have a profound effect on the UK’s 4.5 million small business owners, who will have the ultimate responsibility for what happens to their waste.

John Holbrow, FSB Environment Chairman, urged small businesses to ensure they are aware of the new rules and to contact their waste contractors. He said that the FSB supports the environmental principles that have led to these changes, but that it would be "nothing less than a dereliction of duty" for the Government to bring in these new laws without a sustained publicity campaign to ensure small businesses are aware of them.

"The Environment Agency must do more to let small businesses know what their obligations are. Putting information on a website is simply not enough. There must be widespread publicity otherwise small businesses could be punished for breaking laws they knew nothing about," Holbrow said.

The Environment Agency has factsheets and briefing notes available on its website to inform businesses on how the new rules will impact on their waste management. It said that it will take "a fair and balanced" approach to overseeing the liquid waste ban, focusing on achieving better results for the environment.

"We will concentrate on advising waste producers about the new rules, being clear that this is an opportunity for them to improve their environmental performance. For the waste management industry, our focus will be on improving management systems and waste acceptance procedures across the sector. However, we will take action against landfill operators and waste producers who deliberately flout these new rules."

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