Small business gets big backing to cut hazardous waste

The HAZRED project will work with 120 small businesses throughout UK and Ireland, developing plans to reduce waste before feeding back its findings to other member states.

The initiative will look at current practices in six different sectors, each with their own unique problems and, hopefully, solutions.

The sectors involved in the scheme are construction, metal treatment and coating, vehicle maintenance and repair, photographic processing, machinery and equipment manufacture and chemical manufacture.

The Environment Agency of England and Wales is leading a new project which has been given funding from the EU-Life budget to run for three years.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Welsh Assembly Government, Envirowise, the Groundwork Foundation, SafetyKleen, and the Waste Recycling Group will all also be partners in the scheme.

HAZRED is being launched to coincide with the new Hazardous Waste Regulations which come into force in England and Wales on July 16.

Baroness Barbara Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: “Despite directives addressing specific waste streams and the implementation of the Waste Framework Directive and daughter directives, the amount of hazardous waste generated is increasing across Europe and there is a risk that European waste policy targets may not be met.

“HAZRED is an exciting partnership project that aims to work closely with businesses to demonstrate how a sector led approach could help to reduce European hazardous waste.”

By Sam Bond