Analysis: UK makes a mess of waste regulations

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 24 May 2007 at 10:29

The Environment Agency says both treatment and recovery can take place overseas, but only if the reprocessing is equivalent to what's required by the legislation here, and even the waste companies acknowledge the Environment Agency has difficulty monitoring what's being shipped. 'Any legislative system needs proper enforcement, and the export of waste is very tough to enforce - millions of 20-ton containers need to be tracked,' says Valpak's Gough. 'At least with the 37 schemes in place, it makes it easier to focus their efforts.'

Despite taking several years longer to implement the WEEE directive than our European neighbours, it seems the UK is still in a terrible mess when it comes to the safe disposal of waste equipment.