Businesses must be educated to sort and separate hazardous waste effectively to maximise recycling potential.
That’s the view of Greg Smith, Technical Operations Manager at CSG Recovery, who said though attitudes towards hazardous waste are changing, more could be done to prevent materials heading to landfill.
Part of the CSG Group, CSG Recovery specialises in the processing and recovery of complex or hazardous waste – including aerosols, oily rag by-products from industrial customers and clinical and photographic waste – from businesses operating in a range of sectors including healthcare.
CSG Recovery also partners with a number of skip operators, taking hazardous materials and treating them so that they can be reused either for energy or for new products.
The company, which has facilities in Blackburn, Prescot and Cadishead, also offers a collection service. The Blackburn site was the first to achieve zero-to-landfill status last year.
Greg said: “People are used to separating and sorting their waste at home now and businesses, too, are much better at it than they were. Building sites will have separate skips for glass, wood and metal, for example.
“But many people still believe hazardous waste has no residual value and it should go straight to landfill.
“This is far from the truth. Hazardous waste is found in most people’s homes either under the sink or in the shed. It includes things like paint, glue and sealants.
“All of these things can be treated and turned into fuel. Even half used aerosol cans can have a second life if we extract the remaining gas for fuel and then the metal canister can be recycled.
“With oily substances, we extract the oil for fuel and then treat the water until it’s clean enough to go down the drain.
“At CSG we’ve been dealing with precious metals since 1962 by extracting silver from photographic solutions through a chemical process and recycling the silver bars back into the market. It’s about educating people that hazardous waste is recyclable.”
Greg said businesses should be encouraged to have adequate and clearly labelled drums so that employees know where to dispose of specific items once they are finished with.
“We receive all manner of waste and our staff often have to separate materials by hand, which is a laborious task,” said Greg.
“It is much, much easier if the materials are sorted and separated before they reach our facility.
“The first step is to have an appropriate COSHH areas with sufficient containers for each type of waste. Step two is to ensure that everyone knows how they’re meant to use the area.”
Greg said he expects businesses to deal with hazardous waste separation more effectively as it starts to have a greater impact on their bottom lines.
He added: “Landfill taxes are going up and it’s becoming impractical not to recycle. The incentive to send hazardous waste to other places is growing – and that is what will make businesses finally sit up and take notice.
“There is value in waste – and it’s not just monetary. We need to protect our planet.
“European countries have always had fewer natural resources than we have in the UK so they have naturally been more careful with materials and keener to re-use them.
“We are playing catch-up, but we’ll get there. I speak to a lot of environmental managers on site and the awareness of hazardous waste and the importance of segmentation is becoming more prevalent.”
CSG has a long-standing partnership with Safran Landing Systems, the world’s leading manufacturer of aircraft landing systems. CSG is responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of all day-to-day waste generated on Safran’s 27-acre Gloucester site, including over 20 hazardous waste streams.
CSG has a dedicated team of four personnel based at the Gloucester site five days a week, 24 hours a day, advising on all issues relating to waste. The proportion of waste being diverted from landfill is now 98.72%.
Greg added: “The scale of our facilities enables us to accept waste which would be difficult for other companies to handle and that makes us a trusted partner for many companies who know we can be relied upon to collect, transport and process hazardous waste safely.”
CSG employs more than 500 people nationally, supporting a network of waste treatment and recovery centres. For more information, visit www.csg.co.uk
