Sustainable Campus

Hazardous Waste

Hazardous Waste

Some types of waste are harmful to human health, or to the environment, or both, either immediately or over an extended period of time.

Classifying waste

If you need to decide if a waste is hazardous, you should refer to the UK Government website on how to classify different types of waste.

If you have hazardous waste, you must:

  • segregate it from non-hazardous waste
  • ensure it is dealt with by a suitably qualified hazardous waste contractor

WM3

WM3 is the Guidance on the classification and assessment of waste: Technical Guidance. It replaces WM2 (Hazardous Waste: Interpretation of the definition and classification of hazardous waste).

The guidance explains how to assess if a waste displays a hazardous property and how to classify it.

Responsibilities

In all cases, academic and service units are responsible for the safety of the waste that they generate. Please contact your safety officer for advice.

This procedure satisfies safety concerns, Duty of Care and encourages producer responsibility.

See the general hazardous waste guidance provided by the Environment Agency. 

If you are unsure whether your waste product should be classified as hazardous, please contact sustainable.campus@ncl.ac.uk for advice.

Records

As a hazardous waste producer, you need to keep records of all hazardous waste, including WEEE and chemicals. You must maintain records (waste consignment notes) of each waste involved in a register.

You must also be able to supply specified information to us or the emergency services, when required to do so.

Premises code

A Premises Code must now comprise of the following:

  1. The first six letters of the code must be the first six letters of the business name. For the University, it will be 'NEWCAS'.
  2. This is followed by five characters that are unique to each waste movement. These characters will be generated by the waste contractor.

An example of a consignment note code would be 'NEWCAS/1234L'.

Consignment notes (HWCNs)

As a hazardous waste producer, you must keep records of all hazardous waste, including WEEE and chemicals.

A Hazardous Waste Consignment Note (HWCN) is provided with every collection of hazardous waste. Here are some important things to remember about consignment notes:

  1. You must keep copies for three years.
  2. A representative from the service or unit that produced the waste must sign the HWCN. There is a checklist of the important fields to check before signing the note at the bottom of this page.
  3. You must make sure that copies of consignment notes are stored in a safe place. They must be available for checking by the University or emergency services wherever required.
  4. The waste removal company provide hazardous waste returns every quarter. Keep copies of these with the HWCNs.

Fields to check on HWCNs

FieldDescription
Date of Transfer  
Name and Address of consignor Producer's name and site's address
Adequate description of waste Brief but accurate description of the waste
Hazardous Waste Registration Number Check that it is included
EWC code Check that it is included
Type of Waste container Bag / cart / bin / uncontained
Company name and address of waste carrier Contractor name and address
Representative name and signature of consignor Site representative (waste producer)
Representative name and signature of consignee Contractor representative (waste carrier)
Waste carrier's licence number  
Declaration of waste hierarchy Statement about how the waste is disposed
Waste Hierarchy: Reduce - Reuse - Recycle - Recovery
SIC code Check that it is included
Signature Check waste carrier signature and sign yourself