Independant asbestos Information

Disposal of asbestos containing materials (ACM)

Disposal of asbestos containing materials (ACW)

1. The Following advice applies to England but may not apply to Wales or Scotland
2. Asbestos waste is any waste which contains more than 0.1% w/w asbestos. It is subject to the waste management controls set out in the Hazardous Waste (England & Wales) Regulations 2005 that amended the “Special Waste Regulations.

2.1. The asbestos containing waste (ACW) must be consigned as soon as possible in a safe manner by a registered waste carrier to a dump licensed to take asbestos. There are two exceptions to this rule, which are listed below:
2.1.1. Agricultural ACW. See para 4.
2.1.2. Domestic ACW taken by the house holder or some one working without gain on his behalf to the local collection point / amenity site. See para 5

2.2. One of the new requirements under these regulations is "Where hazardous waste is produced at or removed from, any premises other than exempt premises, the premises must be notified to the Environment Agency". This means that any business producing hazardous waste has a legal duty to register with the Environment agency any premises where hazardous waste is produced. Each premises registered will be given a unique registration number - known as a 'premises code'. This new regulation does not fully apply to householders, see para 5

2.3. Premises exempt from notification, providing they produce less than 500kg in any 12 month period are:
2.3.1. Offices to the extent that the hazardous waste arises from the use of the premises as an office,
2.3.2. shops to the extent that the hazardous waste arises from the use of the premises as a shop,
2.3.3. agriculture premises, to the extent that the hazardous waste arises from the
use of the premises for agriculture,
2.3.4. If any of the above produce more than 500kg in any 12 months then they are no longer exempt, but have to notify the Environment Agency

2.4. The only other time that notification is not required for the premises that produce the waste is where a contractor removing the ACW has registered his main address and he then runs a mobile service. He does not have to notify the Environment Agency that he runs a mobile service. There are two restrictions to this rule.
2.4.1. The contractor must not own or occupy the addresses from which he is removing the ACW
2.4.2. He does not remove more than 500kg of ACW in any 12 month period from the non notified premises.

2.5. Contractors who regularly work with ACMs on domestic or agricultural buildings may find it worthwhile to be registered so that they do not have to register each site from where they remove ACMs. There is though the 500kg maximum in any 12 month period to be considered.
2.5.1. 500 kg equates to approximately 31 square meters of 6” roof sheeting, so a single and double domestic garage roof will be than 500 kg, but if the walls of a double garage are ACMs as well then it is likely to be above 500 kg. Almost every agricultural barn will be above 500kg.
2.5.2. For asbestos cement slates 500kg is approximately 25 square meters of roof, so most house roofs of asbestos cement slates will be above the 500kg limit.
2.5.3. So registration is probably only worth while for plumbers and other contractors who are only dealing with small quantities of waste.

2.6. Registration can be carried out by phone on 08708 502858 at a cost of £23.00, on the internet at
https://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/apps/hazwaste/registrationwelcome.jsp
at cost of £18.00 or by post at a cost of £28.00.

3. Offices or shops ACW.

3.1. The waste produced must be consigned as soon as possible by a registered waste carrier to a dump licensed to take ACW.

3.2. There is no need to notify the environment agency as long as:
3.2.1. the ACW arises from the use of the premises as an office or shop, i.e. it was part of the construction of the building or its services and is being removed in a safe manner and
3.2.2. less than 500kg is removed in any 12 month period.

3.3. Where more than 500kg is produced in any 12 month period, then the Environment Agency must be notified. See 2.6

4. Agricultural ACW

4.1. Disposal of agricultural ACW is the same as ACW disposal from shops and offices (see para 2), with the following exceptions:
4.1.1. The limit per year is 500kg
4.1.2. It will be permissible to safely store ACW on site for up to I year,
4.1.3. The farmer can transport the ACW produced on his farm to the dump licensed to accept ACW as long as he completes the necessary consignment notes and ensures that the ACW is kept correctly enclosed during transport.

5. Domestic ACW.

5.1. The Regulations apply to asbestos which is also domestic waste. However the Regulations do not impose any obligations on a person who is the original producer of the waste and who either resides at the domestic premises where it was produced or on a person who is acting on behalf of the resident and who does this without reward.

5.2. Examples of persons to whom this relates are:
5.2.1. A householder who removes and disposes of ACW from their house to a civic amenity site.
5.2.2. A neighbour who assists in removing such waste without payment.

5.3. This means that there is a difference between ACW produced by DIY and ACW produced by a contractor carrying out paid work on behalf of the house holder

5.4. Domestic ACW produced during DIY

5.4.1. The Government has asked local Authorities to make facilities available for the disposal of domestic ACW, by setting up amenity sites where domestic ACW can be taken free of charge. If the local authority also sets up a collection service then they can and should charge a reasonable price for the service. In some cases it is the county council and in others the local authority that sets up collection points/amenity sites for domestic ACW. It is up to the householder to arrange for the materials to be delivered to the collection point, with the restriction given in para 5.2.
5.4.2. Some local authorities set limits to the quantity of ACW that they will accept as DIY waste
5.4.3. There is no requirement for the householder to notify the Environment Agency.
5.4.4. Before the ACW is disposed of either by delivery to the amenity site or by collection, the ACW should be double wrapped in plastic, the plastic sealed and marked as asbestos waste.
5.4.5. Some local authorities only use small skips for the ACW at their amenity sites and so will not take objects that are more than 1800mm long. This causes problems as many ACWs, such as gutters, flue pipes, rain water pipes, soil pipes, roofing sheets, walling sheets, etc are longer than 1800mm.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 says that working with asbestos containing materials should be avoided wherever possible, so either the householder has to spend hundreds of pounds on a registered waste carrier to dispose of the product and at the same time notify the Environment Agency or reduce the size of the ACW, which is probably not acceptable under The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.
5.4.6. Where the ACW has to be reduced in size one way of keeping the release of fibres to the minimum is to double wrap it in plastic sheeting and then break it in half by hammer blows along the centre line, attempting not to pierce the plastic. Still in the plastic the ACW should then be folded along the break and wrapped and sealed in two more sheets of plastic, for disposal.

5.5. Domestic ACW produced by a Contractor

5.5.1. Where the ACW is produced by a contractor who is engaged by the householder to undertake any construction, modification, repair and maintenance or demolition of his premises, then the Regulations do apply to the contractor, and so he will have to notify the Environment Agency see 1.6, unless the contractor is registered himself and the waste produced from the household in any 12 month period is less than 500 kg.
5.5.2. The contractor will have to employ a registered waste carrier to consign the ACW to a site licensed to take it.
5.5.3. I understand that advice has been written by the Environment Agency to all local authorities saying that this should not be interpreted too literally. But I have been unable to find a copy of this advice. The possible implications of too strict an interpretation of this regulation are given in para 7.

6. All other sources of ACW.

6.1. ACW from all other sources will have to be consigned to a dump licensed to take ACW by a registered waste carrier and have obtained a premises number from the Environment agency.

7. Conclusion

7.1. The majority of buildings built prior to 1985 and a large number after that date contain asbestos; it is likely that the majority of ACMs will not be removed by the householder. Since few fitters, plumbers, building or roofing contractors have mobile registration this will mean that some 100,000s of buildings in the UK will need to be registered with the Environment Agency over the coming years, unless there is a reasonable interpretation of what local authorities will allow to be dumped by the ‘householder’ at their amenity sites. Personally I cannot see how the high cost of recording all these buildings from which asbestos has to be removed can be justified, as it is unlikely to help the environment, in fact it could be argued that the extra paper produced and the computers required to run the system, will make the whole exercise counter productive, in environmental terms.

7.2. There is also the risk that the number of instances of ‘fly tipping’ might well increase if Local Authorities strictly enforce the regulation that any contractor working for a domestic client will need to notify and employ a registered waste carrier to remove the waste. At an extreme, this means that a fitter, the majority of whom are not registered to carry waste, replacing an old boiler, that entails the removal of a length of asbestos cement flue pipe, will have to have a skip on site which will cost some hundreds of pounds. There is a risk that the disreputable will charge the house holder for the disposal but take the flue pipe himself and ‘fly tip’ it, pocketing the extra profit.

7.3. The differential between DIY and employing a contractor, means that if a house holder decides to use a contractor either by choice or disability, the contractor will have to register the property with the Environment Agency, unless he is one of the few that runs a mobile service; they will also have to employ a registered waste carrier to take the ACM to a licensed dump, this large extra cost will of course have to be borne by the householder. Where the householder is disabled this could be seen to be counter to the Disability Discrimination Act.

7.4. If we look at the difference in cost of a house holder taking down his own garage and taking the sheets to an amenity site, and employing a contractor to do the work for him, the difference is going to be some hundreds of pounds, extra for the asbestos disposal. This is a strong incentive for the house holder to do the work himself; I am not sure that this is in the best interest of Health and Safety. The taking down of a garage has a number of risks associated with it, such as working at height, lifting heavy weights, premature collapse, asbestos dust etc, which a competent contractor will be able to control far better than many DIY enthusiasts.

 


         

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