Webinar 36 | Introduction to Duty of Care & Waste Classification

Scotland produces approximately 4.3 million tonnes of waste soil per annum. The cost of disposing of waste soils can account for a significant proportion of a construction projects budget and it is a cost that is often not fully budgeted for during the early stages of project planning.   

In accordance with the waste hierarchy reduction and the onsite reuse of soils should be considered in preference to offsite disposal. However, to allow the construction of site infrastructure, installation of environmental capping, foundations etc. offsite soil waste disposal is often still required and cannot be fully avoided.   It is the responsibility of the waste producer to appropriately describe and classify their waste. As well as being a legal duty, classifying waste helps to identify a suitable disposal route, associated costs and to determine whether it contains any hazardous properties so that it can be managed in a way to avoid harm to either human or the wider environment. 

The assessment of waste soils can be a complex issue and many producers rely on their waste suppliers to do this assessment on their behalf.   The aim of this webinar is to help explain what a waste producers Duty of Care responsibilities are and to provide an introduction into how waste soil should be classified in accordance with WM3 guidance.  It will be suitable for early career practitioners or could be a refresher to the more experienced.   

This webinar will cover the following topics:

• What is waste? 

• When are soil & stones no longer considered waste 

• Duty of Care obligations and responsibilities 

• Introduction to waste classification, why it's important and a summary of the WM3 process for assessing mirror entries.

• WAC testing

This webinar will be presented by Andrew Howlett a Project Director at Albion Environmental Ltd. Andrew is an environmental consultant and project manager with over 16 years’ experience in the environmental and waste management sector. Albion Environmental Limited is a consultancy based in Ayr, specialising in waste management, environmental, health and safety solutions.   Andrew’s experience includes contaminated land assessments and he specialises in the classification and management of waste soils. He provides consultancy and training support to waste producers (e.g. groundworkers and developers), waste carriers, brokers and operators of waste management facilities. Working with all parties within the waste management chain has provided Andrew with a thorough understanding of the various issues experienced during the waste soil management process from excavation to reuse or disposal.