The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011

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

Duty in relation to the waste hierarchy

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

13.—(1) An establishment or undertaking which collects waste paper, metal, plastic or glass must, from 1st January 2015, take all such measures to ensure separate collection of that waste as are available to the establishment or undertaking in that capacity and are—

(a) technically, environmentally and economically practicable; and

(b) appropriate to meet the necessary quality standards for the relevant recycling sectors.

(2) For the avoidance of doubt, co-mingled collection (being the collection together with each other but separately from other waste of waste streams intended for recycling with a view to subsequent separation by type and nature) is a form of separate collection.

(3) 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.

Duty in relation to collected waste

14.—(1) An establishment or undertaking which collects, transports or receives waste paper, metal, plastic or glass must, from 1st January 2015, take all such measures available to it in that capacity as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that where that waste has been separately collected it is not mixed with other waste or other material with different properties.

(2) This duty applies only where keeping waste separate facilitates or improves recovery.

Guidance

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.