Critical review of the law

Abstract

Over the years, landfilling has been regarded as the most dominant method of waste management that has been employed by authorities concerned with waste disposal in England. However, there are law, policies, as well as practices, which enable its sustainability and preference over other methods. This paper provides a critical review of the law, policies, and practices related to landfilling of waste in England. focusing on environmental studies dissertation help. First, it will provide a brief introduction, which will set out the contextualization for the report, plus its aim and objectives. Following this, the paper provides the literature review, which entails the definitions of various terms, issues relating to landfilling and the applicable laws relating to landfilling in England. Thereafter, it provides the findings of the reports, which are revolving around landfill regulations in England, reviews of England’s waste policies, as well as Landfill Directives used in England. The paper thus recommends that better policies, laws and practices related to landfill in England need to be established, in order to strengthen the use of waste landfilling.

Introduction

It is evident that in the UK generally, there is an increasing pressure aiming towards the minimization of the overall amounts of wastes produced and adoption of more responsible ways that wastes can be produced and thus managed. Precisely in England, targets, as well as requirements have been passed down from the EU, and they have then transposed into national laws, policies, as well as practices (Ajayi & Oyedele, 2017). There have been stipulated laws and policies, which shape waste management practices in England and this assignment is specifically concerned with landfill, as it has been considered the most dominant method of waste management that has been employed by authorities concerned with waste disposal in England. Notably, the laws and policies governing landfill as a waste management in England define what the council requires to be considered as the strategy adopted in the Municipal Waste Management, and they also provide what to address in an instance where there is need to procure a new waste management contract (Ajayi et al., 2016). As such, this paper purposes to provide a critical review of an array of law, policies, as well as practices related to landfill as a waste management in England and which ought to be adhered to by the council, together with its contractors. Notably, this paper will not find it necessary addressing all of England’s waste management laws, policies and practices, but the relevant instruments aiding in shaping landfill as a waste management strategy. In this regard, the aims and objectives of the paper are as provided below:

Aim

To provide a critical review of the laws, policies and practices relating landfilling as a waste management strategy in England

In order to meet the aforementioned aim, the following objectives will have to be met effectively:

To provide an array of various laws, policies, as well as practices related to landfilling as a waste management strategy in England

To critically review how landfill laws, policies and practices aid in providing an effective measure towards general environmental management and protection

To prove that landfill is the most effective method of waste management in England as compared to other methods

Definitions

Over the years in England, Landfill has been regarded as the most conventional method of disposing wastes. As such, there have been sufficient and effective laws, policies, as well as practices, which ensure its sustainability in not only England, but in the UK entirely. Landfill refers to the disposal of various waste materials by burying them as a method of filling in and also reclaiming excavated pits (Ajayi & Oyedele, 2017). Of importance to note, the use of landfilling has been recognized to be the best practicable option for environmental sustainability and as such, England’s waste strategy policy on landfilling purposes to promote significant practice that aim at achieving stabilization of various landfill sites in a given generation. Law refers to a system of set rules, which have been created and also enforced by social or even governmental institutions, in order to regulate behavior. Over the years, law has been defined as an “art of justice” and also a “science of justice.” Significantly, law purposes to regulate and as well ensure that the entire community and individuals adhere to a state’s will. Notably, state enforced laws can be established through a collective legislature or by just a single legislator and this result into statutes through decrees and regulations or they can be established by judges in common law jurisdictions (Arulrajah et al., 2015). On the other hand, a policy is a system of principles aiding in guiding decisions and achieving rational outcomes. It is a statement of intent and as such, it is implemented as a protocol. Notably, policies are adopted by a given governance body in an institution. They assist in the making of decisions, both subjectively and objectively (Balch, 2014). For instance, a landfilling policy is often implemented through guidance that has been set out in various revised series of landfill waste management papers. Finally, practices are the adoption of given actions, and this can either be based on a law or a policy. Practices follow a given protocol and are repeated, unless a change has been made (Arulrajah et al., 2015).

Essentially, England produces a huge amount of waste yearly. This represents its total economic activity rather than simply household waste and approximately half of the total waste is generated from construction projects. However, it is worth noting that regardless of whoever makes the waste, it has to be taken somewhere and the amount sent to landfill amount to over 30 per cent. The government has put forth law, policies, and practices to aid in governing the issue of landfilling in England (Arulrajah et al., 2015). This is based on the following reasons. Firstly, to curb the most notorious problem associated with landfill, which is space. The number of landfilling sites in England has fallen drastically, owing to the fact that the option of ‘concentrate and contain’ is no longer an option that is viable for a long term and in line with this, figures also suggest that England will run out of space in a matter of 6 to 8 years’ time. However, it is evident that local authorities have been renowned to be consistently revising their various landfill predictions and the current estimates need to be treated with a level of caution (Balch, 2014). Moreover, another issue that brings forth the concern to have laws, policies and practices is that pollution is on a high rate in England due to landfilling. Notably, some chemicals that are discarded entail chemicals, which infiltrate the soil, as well as ground water. These then have a devastating impact on wildlife, as well as to humans. In addition to this, landfills are noted to emit methane gas, which is 20 times much potent, as compared to carbon dioxide. Overall, it is significant to take note of the fact that the government has brought forth policies, laws, as well as practices, which if followed and adhered to, landfilling would be considered the most effective environmental conservation strategy in England, and it would be looked up to in the vision 2030 (Brennan et al., 2016).

Applicable laws, policies and practices

The coalition government rose to power and published a national waste policy review (Review of England’s waste policy in the year 2011), and thus stated a number of detailed commitments, as well as actions, which the government would seek in addressing the issue of landfilling in England for over the coming years and are still effective to date. These actions were regarded as the revised Waste Framework 2008 (rWFD) and the key details are provided as follows (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2017). Firstly, the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS), having been revoked in the year 2014, has made landfill tax to be considered as one of the key financial drivers towards the reduction of waste in England through landfill. It is significant to take note of the fact that the current national landfill tax, as per the financial year 2014/2015 is levied at 80 pounds on each tonne of waste that has been sent to a landfill. In line with this, the government made an announcement in the 2014 budget that as from April 2015, the lower rates (standard rates) of landfill would increase as per the Retail Price index (RPI), and this was going to be rounded off to the nearest 5 pence 8 (Elliot, 2016). Presently, it is evident that the government is looking into providing a further long-term certainty regarding the future of the landfill tax rate and this is following the consultation made on the trammel fines in the year 2014. However, it is evident that even though the EU diversion targets for the biodegradable wastes are still effective for the EU member states, there is still need for the utilization of alternatives techniques of waste management associated with landfill. Secondly, the government has put forth laws that restrict certain wastes and as such, they cannot be sent to landfill (Environmental Services Association, 2016).

It should also be noted that the Landfill Regulations 2002 in England implemented the EU requirements as provided in the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC). Subsequently, this was amended in the year 2004 and 2005, in order to transpose the needful requirements as stipulated in the Council Decision 2003/33/EC, based on Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). In turn, the provisions were also re-transposed in order to be part of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007 in England (Environmental Services Association, 2016). Notably, WAC came into effect in the year 2005 and it contains key elements of the stipulated landfill directive. It is worth noting that WAC sets a stipulated criteria for three types of wastes, which included the following: The hazardous waste (as shown in the appendix below), which should be disposed only in a given hazardous waste landfill site. Secondly, is the stable non-reactive waste, which should be disposed in a given separate cell that is in a landfill that is not non-hazardous and finally is the inert waste that should be disposed in a landfill that is inert (Grice, 2010). Notably, based on WAC, it is evident that disposal by landfill considers the identified options for all types of wastes, and as such, it is the obligation pf waste producers to put into consideration, the most appropriate option of treatment, identify the landfills that accept the wastes, and thus, establish whether the wastes meet the conditions of WAC. Usually, this involved a discussion of the producer and the waste contractors or land operators. However, overall, it is the duty of the producer to ensure that the wastes that they send to the landfill meet the set criteria (Jeswani & Azapagic, 2016).

Moreover, the key provisions for CEC do relate to the continual reduction of the rate of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW), which goes to landfill, as well as the promotion of alternative techniques towards environmental conservations such as recycling, energy recovery from various wastes, as well as composition. In order to effect this, the directive purposed to provide England with three targets, which would consequently reduce the BMW that is disposed to landfill. First, by 2010, the directive mandated the need to reduce the BMW that is landfilled to 75% of the amount that was provided in the year 1995. In 2013 the same directive mandated the reduction of BMW landfilled to 50% the amount that was produced in the year 1995 and finally by 2020, it intends to mandate the reduction of BMW landfilled to 35% the amount that was landfilled in the year 1995 (Jeswani & Azapagic, 2016).

In line with the aforementioned, the directive also brought forth various other changes towards waste management in England and they included the following: A complete ban of various landfill tyres, infectious clinic wastes, as well as other hazardous wastes. Secondly was a requirement to have separate landfills, especially for hazardous, inert, as well as non-hazardous wastes (Tolvik Consulting, 2017). Finally, it also required the introduction of a treatment requirement of wastes before they are taken to landfill and also the establishment of the aforementioned acceptance criteria of the wastes that are arriving at the disposal sites. It is worth noting that meeting the various requirements of the stipulated regulations implied that there would be an increase in the costs of utilization of landfills as a disposal means, requirement of a new residual of waste treatment and also an increase in the costs of the disposing the hazardous wastes (Rees-White et al., 2019).

Findings

Upon the introduction of Landfill Directive in the year 1999, it is evident that all of the EU member states purposed to set their targets towards reducing biodegradable wastes that were being sent to landfill. In this regard, In England, it is worth noting that this was considered as part of the Landfill regulations 2002 and as such, the LATS was later on introduced as a sub-category, under the Emissions Trading Act 2003. Significant to note, is the fact that LATS provided all of the local authorities with a set tonnage (allowance) of significant biodegradable waste, which could only be sent to landfill yearly (Rabl et al., 2008). However, the allowance significantly reduced every years. In an instance where this tonnage exceeded, it was evident that the local authority had to pay a £150 charge per tonne of the biodegradable wastes that were sent to landfill. Notably, the allowances could at times be traded between different authorities even with a charge attached.

The landfill directive notably aims at dealing with the social, economic, as well as environmental effects of landfill whilst putting into consideration, its whole life cycle (Powrie et al., 2015). Essentially, it entails a mix of various strategic objectives that purpose to reduce the amount, as well as nature of wastes that go into landfill in England together with restricting the provisions of the regulations whilst managing landfills. Presently, the primary disincentive towards landfill is landfill tax. In this regard, the set standard rate had been £56/tonne in the year 2011/2012 and this rose by £8 yearly to £80 in the year 2014/2015. It is significant to note that modelling of the present policies to the year 2020 would probably increase the landfill tax and this suggests that the proportion of landfilled wastes will continually fall. However, it is notable that approximately a quarter of industrial, commercial, as well as household wastes are still projected to always end up being landfilled (Liu et al., 2017).

It is clear that there are some wastes that regard landfill as either a good or a bad option (Liu et al., 2017). In this regard, they include hazardous wastes like asbestos, low level radioactive wastes, inert materials and wastes that ad in restoring quarries, as well as mineral workings, process residues like pretreated industrial wastes that no further kind of resource can be recovered and also, wastes that landfill alternatives have not been justified by environmental, or economic cost.

The challenge that England has is to move past the existing trajectory, in order to be able to deliver the vision that essentially, landfill can only be useful for wastes, for which there is no better way of disposing them (Ajayi & Oyedele, 2017). The measures that have been outlined in the reviews play a vital role towards pushing up the waste hierarchy from landfill through encouraging the installment of the right infrastructures, culture, as well as markets that would enable the residents of England to treat waste as a significant resource. However, it is clear that even when given this kind of push, some wastes would still have to be sent to landfill and consequentially, this may warrant the introduction of more legislative tools, which may include landfill restrictions or even total bans, in order to achieve England’s aim (Lieu et al., 2018).

Most importantly, there is need for England to ensure that it remains on track, in order to be able to meet the stipulations in the Landfill Directive, which target towards diverting the biodegradable municipal waste from various landfills. Precisely in 2010, the UK as a whole revised various interpretations of the municipal waste to be able to include a greater proportion of both the industrial and the commercial wastes. Notably, this change and in addition to the most recent data, they have been combined with the aim of reviewing England’s significant approach towards meeting such kinds of targets. Consequentially, they have confirmed that the UK was able to meet the target set in the 2010 landfill directive (Jones and Tansey, 2015).

Finally, it is evident that based on the wide consultation, which aims at ending the landfill allowance trade scheme, stakeholder feedback, and economic analysis provide the indication that landfill tax has significantly superseded the scheme, considering their drive on local authority behavior. In this regard, a significant legislation should be brought forwards in England, with the aim of ending the scheme, upon the completion of the scheme year (2012/2013) (Jones and Tansey, 2015).

Conclusion

Based on the above provisions, it is clear that indeed, the aim and objectives of this paper have been met effectively. This paper has provided various laws, policies, as well as practices that relate to landfilling in England, UK. Of significant to note, is that fact that the UK as a whole faces an increasing pressure that aims towards the minimization of the overall amounts of wastes produced and adoption of more responsible ways that wastes can be produced and thus managed. Precisely in England, targets, as well as requirements have been passed down from the EU, and they are then transposed into national laws, policies, as well as practices. England has put forth laws and policies, which shape waste management practices and precisely, is the case of landfilling. Based on the objectives provides, it is worth noting that in providing an array of various laws, policies, as well as practices related to landfilling as a waste management strategy in England, this paper has provided several. For instance, it has mentioned and expounded on the landfill regulations since time immemorial in England, review of England’s waste policy, as well as Landfill Directive. Notably, these policies have been able to ascertain the fact that landfill is the most effective method of waste management in England as compared to other methods, but only if the rules attached to it are adhered to accordingly, as overall, they aid in the enhancement of general environmental management and protection in England. Overall, based on the findings in this paper, it is evident that the landfill policies notably aim at dealing with the social, economic, as well as environmental effects of landfill whilst putting into consideration, its whole life cycle. It is then recommended that better policies, laws and practices related to landfill in England need to be established, in order to strengthen the use of waste landfilling.

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References

Council Decision 2003/33/EC

Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC)

Landfill Directive, 1999

Landfill Regulations, 2002

revised Waste Framework 2008 (rWFD)

The Environmental Permitting Regulations

The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS),

Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC)

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