New campaign to raise awareness of waste regulations

A new campaign has been launched to raise awareness of waste regulations, amid concerns that the rules are "very complex", according to Materials Recycling World.

The Environmental Services Association (ESA) and the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) have joined forces in the duty of care (DOC) awareness campaign, 'Right Waste Right Place'. The campaign will be aimed at small and medium-sized firms in particular.

The campaign was announced at a recent RWM session dedicated to raising the profile of DOC regulations throughout the waste sector.

Mat Crocker, deputy director of illegals and waste at the Environment Agency, said: "Criminals can only operate their criminal model if they can get hold of the waste. If everybody applied their DOC then the waste crime problem would go away."

However industry leaders have said the detail of regulations makes it hard to comply. Stuart Hayward-Higham, technical development director of Suez UK, said the DOC contained "a very complex set of regulations."

Hayward-Higham said he saw it as a responsibility for operators to make the DOC easier to understand by condensing rules into an accessible one-page document.

Suez has asked its commercial customers about their compliance with the DOC. A majority had not instituted the six compliance services required by English law.

According to Hawyward-Higham, the principle difficulty in complying was the difficulty of reading through the DOC regulations.

Paul Kelly, reputation management director at PR firm PPS Group, welcomed the campaign, saying companies outside the waste industry commonly did not understand the DOC.