London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

‘Technical Assessment for Waste Management in London’ which documents 1998/99
and 2000 figures for hazardous waste obtained from the Environment Agency Waste
Interrogator 37 . Hazardous waste arisings collated by the Environment Agency can be
broken down into sub-regional data and have been documented in a variety of reports,
most notably:
• Strategic Waste Management Assessment 2000: London.
• Hazardous Waste Forum reports, prepared by Enviros.
• Technical Assessment for Waste Management in London (Enviros, April 2003).
6.12. The Environment Agency remains the most accurate and detailed source of information
on hazardous waste.
6.13. It should be noted that the Corporation of London provides a hazardous waste
collection and disposal service to all the London borough councils to collect and dispose
of small quantities of asbestos and chemicals. The service is primarily aimed at
households although hazardous materials do get collected from schools, registered
charities, borough offices and, increasingly, fly-tipped wastes. The contract is carried
out on behalf of the Corporation by CSG Lanstar which collects the chemicals and Biffa
Waste Services which collects the asbestos.
Data Collection and Validity
Data Collection
6.14. Under the Special Waste Regulations (1996), hazardous wastes are tracked by the
Environment Agency from their place of origin to their final destination (from cradle-tograve).
The system uses consignment notes which record details of the waste being
transported, with a new consignment note for each trip. Copies of the consignment
notes are sent to the Environment Agency where the information is put into the
Environment Agency’s Special Waste Tracking System (SWaT). Information from SWaT
is then summarised and made publicly available from the Hazardous Waste Interrogator
on the Environment Agency website 38 .
6.15. The Environment Agency’s Hazardous Waste Interrogator contains information on
wastes produced, waste disposed, waste type, waste fate, and waste movements. The
data covers 1999, 2000 and 2001 and is available at a London region, sub-region
(Central, South, West London), and local authority level. In addition, summary figures
for the arisings and fate of hazardous waste are available for 2002. The 2002 data is
available at the London (region) level only. The 2002 figures cannot be interrogated for
waste type going to landfill, or type of waste to treatment, as is currently possible with
earlier data on the Hazardous Waste Interrogator. From 2001, SWaT figures will not be
published through the Hazardous Waste Interrogator due to the aging interface and a
new interrogational software is currently under development.
Data Validity
6.16. The data from the consignment note system is used to provide information on the
arisings of hazardous waste. However, the nature of the system can result in
inaccuracies due to double counting, under-counting, or wastes by-passing the tracking
system completely. These problems are discussed below.
37 A web based tool which can be used to interrogate the information collected from the consignment notes in a
variety of ways. For example, by authority, waste arising, waste disposed etc.
38 http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/apps/wastesurvey2/?lang=_e
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