SOUTH WEST WALES REGIONAL WASTE PLAN

ADDENDUM - HAZARDOUS WASTE

The Regional Waste Plan for South West Wales was formally endorsed by the Regional Waste Forum and by each of the constituent local authorities in the region in February 2004. The Plan provides a strategic waste management land use strategy for all waste streams and deals with a range of options for dealing with such waste. The preferred option was Option 6 which seeks the achievement of 2020 targets by 2013.

Following endorsement of the Plan the South West Wales Group was required to carry out an immediate review in relation to hazardous waste planning and to prepare and publish locational criteria or policies as an addendum to guide future proposals for hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities within the region.

Since the 16 July 2005 the co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste has no longer been allowed. Hazardous wastes can only be assigned to a landfill site licensed to accept such waste. At the same time an additional 180 wastes were classified as hazardous e.g. TVs and fluorescent tubes.

Together these changes amount to a new hazardous waste management regime and it is inevitable that more hazardous waste recycling and treatment facilities will need to be developed in Wales. However, uncertainty about the combined effects of regulatory changes has resulted in uncertainty about facility types and required capacities for dealing with hazardous waste and the commercial viability of any new facilities.

There are currently 27 Civic Amenity Sites within the region, all of which should have had facilities to receive and store, prior to proper disposal, bonded asbestos sheets, oils, paints, solvents and fluorescent light bulbs by 2003/4 (National Waste Strategy for Wales target). Only oils can be received at all 27 sites.

There are 33 open gate facilities within the region that accept hazardous wastes and not one of these is a landfill site. All hazardous waste that requires landfilling at an open gate facility is now disposed of outside Wales which is not in line with the proximity principle.

The Report identifies seven generic types of facility that would handle hazardous waste :

· Civic Amenity Sites

· Waste Transfer Station

· Physical Treatment

· Biological Treatment

· Chemical Treatment

· Incineration

· Landfill

It is considered that detailed locational criteria are not required for Civic Amenity Sites, given their small scale and only local significance. They are also generally compatible with B2 uses. Waste Transfer Stations are also generally compatible with B2 and B8 uses and do not require specific locational criteria.

Most Physical, Biological and Chemical Treatments would be B2 uses and planning permission would not be required for them on existing B2 sites. The development of locational criteria specific to these types of facilities would neither be meaningful or possible.

In terms of incineration/thermal treatment it is considered unrealistic to anticipate increased demand for such facilities in the near future and unnecessary to make provision for such a facility.

In terms of landfill of non-reactive hazardous wastes it is not considered that any additional locational criteria need be applied over and above that for landfill sites for biodegradable wastes.

The Report having found that locational criteria specific to each facility type are either not desirable and/or not achievable identifies locational criteria generic to all facility types. These are split into positive criteria and negative criteria.

Positive locational criteria

· Should not be remote from settlements but should be close enough to be easily reached by employees

· Where there is any possibility of pollution of soils and groundwater, sites with natural geological advantages i.e. clay deposits, inherently stable geological sites should be preferred

· take advantage of existing land uses to minimise impacts i.e. heavy industry, sewage works, existing landfill sites

Negative locational criteria

· Should not be so close to sensitive uses as to adversely affect amenity due to proximity

· Facilities should not be located on protected sites for nature conservation, ecology, archaeology

· There should be no possibility of groundwater pollution

· Facilities should not be located where there may be adverse geological impact e.g. subsidence and fault lines

· Facilities should not be located where they would have an adverse impact on statutorily protected landscapes

· Facilities should not impact on the performance of floodplains and should not be liable to flooding

· There should be no adverse impact on existing land uses that cannot be mitigated

The Regional Waste Forum endorsed the Hazardous Waste Addendum at its meeting on 09 September 2005 but the Plan also needs to be endorsed by each of the constituent Authorities within the Region. Carmarthenshire County Council has therefore been asked to formally endorse the Addendum Report.

RECOMMENDATION

That Carmarthenshire County Council formally endorse the Hazardous Waste Report as an Addendum to the Regional Waste Plan.