The Environment Agency has announced the upgrading of 222 landfill sites across England and Wales to take hazardous waste.

Landfill sites currently contain both household and hazardous waste. However, new European rules mean that from 2004 hazardous waste has to be disposed of in designated sites only.

Forum Response: The Environmental Association

Dirk Hazell, chief executive for The Environmental Services Association, told ePolitix.com: "Media reports that sites are being 'upgraded' to take hazardous waste are incorrect. There has been a recent restriction on the types of waste which can go to landfills, but today's announcement is a procedural requirement of the Landfill Directive and does not change the types of waste that can be accepted at any particular landfill.""The UK's regulated landfills are already the best engineered and most strictly regulated in the world. Anticipating further operational changes that will be imposed by the Landfill Directive, ESA has for years advised the government that, from 2004, hazardous waste should be rendered safe and stable before it reaches landfill. To reduce longer term generation of hazardous waste, ESA has consistently endorsed both a wide range of European initiatives and also effective partnerships with relevant industrial sectors."

Forum Response: Biffa

Robin Tweedale, landfill director for Biffa, told ePolitix.com: "At present nothing has changed and it's business as usual, co-disposal will continue for some time with 'hazardous' sites accepting the same waste as they did before the implementation of the directive. However, to comply with the regulations we've had to register 36 of our sites as hazardous.""Over the next two years landfill operators will need to determine whether their sites remain registered as hazardous or if they should revert to non-hazardous status."Biffa has long argued that hazardous waste should be pre-treated before it is landfilled thus negating any detrimental affects it may have on the environment. However, without clear guidance from government or the regulator about the environmental and operational requirements of a hazardous waste landfill, it is difficult to say what will happen after July 2004."