Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012

The Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 (CWR 2012) continues to define waste into the categories household waste, commercial waste and industrial waste but it has separate means of classification:

• by the place of production
• by the nature of the waste or the activity producing the waste.

The legislation now tabulates types of household waste and whether charges for collection and disposal may be made. If there are exceptions stated in that table which differ from the classification of the waste by either place of production or the nature of the waste or the activity producing the waste, the exceptions stated in the table of charges for household waste will take precedence.

CWR 2012 introduces disposal charges to some non-domestic household waste producers and some premises formerly classified as producers of household waste are now identified as producers of commercial waste.

CWR 2015 also provides a new definition of Clinical Waste (also sometimes termed Healthcare Waste) as waste from a healthcare activity (including veterinary healthcare) that: a) Contains viable micro-organisms or their toxins which are known or reliably believed to cause disease in humans or other living organisms, b) Contains or is contaminated with a medicine that contains a biologically active pharmaceutical agent, or c) Is a sharp, or a body fluid or other biological material (including human and animal tissue) containing or contaminated with a dangerous substance within the meaning of council directive 67/548/EC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances.

And waste of a similar nature from a non-healthcare activity.

CWR 12 introduces the term “offensive waste” which includes waste that would have broadly been referred to as low grade clinical waste under the previous regulations. Offensive waste is defined as waste that:

• is not clinical waste (see 2.1.1 above)
• contains body fluids, secretions or excretions and
• includes items such as dressings, plaster casts, disposable clothes and linen used in healthcare and related research and/or
• comes from animal healthcare and related research that is not subject to any special requirements to prevent infection (i.e. not clinical waste and not an animal by-product, as defined by the EU directive).