London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

6.32. Approximately 73% (334,558 tonnes) of the hazardous waste arisings in London
originate from ‘construction and demolition waste and asbestos’. There is no further
breakdown of this EWC group for the most recent (2002) SWaT data. However the
2001 data is broken down further and indicates that of the 345,851 tonnes of
hazardous C&D waste recorded in 2001, 235,641 (68%) was composed of soils and
stones (EWC 170501) indicating that a high percentage of the hazardous waste in the
‘construction and demolition and asbestos’ category comprises contaminated soils from
the re-development of brownfield sites This concurs with the view expressed in the
Environment Agency report ‘Hazardous Waste – A Growing Challenge’ 39 . The other
main individual contributors towards hazardous waste arisings in London are:
• oil and oil/water mixtures (~8%, 38,085 tonnes);
• the waste water treatment and water industry (~7%, 33,198 tonnes); and
• inorganic chemical processes (~2%, 9,974 tonnes).
Waste Movement
6.33. Table 6.1 documents the hazardous waste movements between regions. In terms of
hazardous waste disposal, London is the least self-contained region in England and
Wales since it only treats and disposes of 3.7% of the hazardous waste it produces
(Environment Agency, 2002). The predominant trend in the South East is the largescale
movement of hazardous waste out of London (441,700 tonnes in 2002) into the
surrounding regions.
Table 6.1: Movements of hazardous waste between regions in England and
Wales (Environment Agency, 2002)
Planning Region
East East of North North
London
Midlands England East West
South
East
South
West
Wales
West Yorks &
Midlands Humber Total
produced
East Midlands
East of England
London
North East
North West
South East
South W est
Wales
W est Midlands
Yorks & Humber
Total deposits
imports
112.7 10.4 1.4 1.4 21.0 3.5 1.4 2.4 32.6 66.4 253.3
14.3 316.7 6.6 0.3 13.4 27.6 4.0 4.4 8.5 29.4 425.2
16.8 302.3 16.9 0.3 8.7 73.9 15.0 3.6 6.0 15.0 458.6
exp 24.8 6.4 0.1 166.7 43.4 21.7 0.3 1.9 3.6 44.3 313.1
orts 38.1 9.0 0.0 5.8 489.1 7.2 5.3 19.7 29.6 41.2 644.8
15.2 154.7 9.9 2.2 17.0 230.9 96.6 12.0 22.3 17.9 578.7
10.1 15.2 0.5 0.1 16.6 18.9 183.6 24.2 24.0 10.7 279.8
9.5 8.8 0.0 0.1 33.9 5.7 16.3 560.0 38.3 9.4 682.1
49.9 13.8 0.1 23.5 41.2 4.8 18.5 21.5 342.1 26.2 541.6
75.0 24.5 0.0 10.5 95.5 16.4 1.1 0.5 11.9 381.9 617.4
366.3 861.8 35.6 210.9 780.0 410.6 342.2 650.1 518.9 642.5 4,794.6
Does not include movements from Scotland and Northern Ireland, or records where no region has been allocated.
6.34. From Table 6.1 it can be seen that London exports hazardous wastes to all regions of
England and Wales. The largest receiving region by far is the East of England (302,300
tonnes) followed by the South East (which receives 73,900 tonnes). The East Midlands,
South West, and Yorkshire and Humber each receive c.15 thousand tonnes, with the
North West at 8.7 thousand tonnes and West Midlands at 6.0 thousand tonnes. Wales
receives a relatively small amount (3,600 tonnes) and very little is sent to the North East
(300 tonnes).
6.35. Table 6.1 indicates that London imported 18,700 tonnes of hazardous waste in 2002.
This is lower than the tonnage imported by any other region. As a comparison of the
magnitudes of imports, the North-East is the second smallest importer of hazardous
waste (44,200 tonnes). Not surprisingly, the two highest regions that export hazardous
39 Hazardous Waste – A Growing Challenge, Environment Agency, February 2004
102