Hazardous Waste Registration
Any establishment that produces in excess of 500kg of Hazardous Waste in a 12 month period needs to be registered with the Environment Agency. This includes all forms of hazardous waste, not just pharmaceutical hazardous waste. Any establishment that produces less than 500kg of Hazardous Waste in a 12 month period can declare themselves exempt.
It is the waste producer’s responsibility (ie the Pharmacy’s) to ensure that itis either registered or declared exempt. Both options require action.
To establish whether you are producing or are likely to produce more than 500kg of hazardous waste in a 12 month period you must take into account all hazardous waste streams eg old equipment, fridges, monitors, fluorescent tubes, items containing mercury, as well as clinical hazardous waste. Please remember that most pharmaceutical waste is not considered hazardous only the items that are placed in the purple lidded bin. When any waste disposal companycollects hazardous waste they should issue a consignment notethat states the weight of the hazardous waste collected. They should also issuea quarterly producer’s return which summarisesthe amount of hazardous waste collected from a site. This information can be used to work out whether youare likely to exceed 500kg in a 12 month period.
There are 3 ways to register with the EnvironmentAgency:
1)online via their web site (see address below) £18 per year (credit/debit card)
2)telephone 03708 502 858 and ask to make a 'hazardous waste notification' £23 per year (credit/debit card)
3)postal £28 per year (cheque/postal order/BACS)
If having checked your consignment notes you believe that you are not likely to produce over 500kg of hazardous waste in a twelve month period you can declare yourself exempt. To do this you need to adopt an exemption code which will be EXC*** followed by the first 3 letters of the practice name i.e. EXCWID.
Before you do this
1) check your consignment notes to see if you are already registered as exempt – there will be a code (as above) on the consignment note.
2)be very sure that you have included all collections in your calculations, there is a penalty for not registering when you should have.
Whichever route you chose,you need to notify PHS of your registration details or exemption details to enable them to continue to deal with your hazardous waste. Any other waste disposal company that collects hazardous waste from you will require your registration/exemption code.
If you need any help there is a lot of information on the Environment Agency web site including a Q&A. Also PHS are helpful and you can contact Nathan on 02920 809512 or . You can also use these contacts to give PHS your registration or exemption details if you didn’t receive a reminder form from PHS. If you did receive a form you can use that to give PHS the information.
If you have any queries please refer to the Environment Agency web site in the first instance or give PHS a ring.