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Hazardous Waste Disposal: How to Guide
Hazardous Waste Disposal: How to Guide
No matter what form of commercial project you’re undertaking, all waste that your project generates needs to be disposed of correctly. Admittedly, there are various ways in which materials can be disposed of; can they be recycled? Can they be reused? Should they go to landfill?
Waste Management at FIFA 2018 World Cup
Waste Management at FIFA 2018 World Cup
With the FIFA World Cup now reaching the business end of the tournament, fans in attendance are in almost unanimous agreement that it has been a complete success – at least from a hosting point of view. Supporters of current cup holders Germany might be disappointed with their team’s performance, but no one can deny that Russia have put on a magnificent welcome for the visitors.
With an aim of reducing the impact of FIFA World Cup Russia and raising the awareness of climate change, FIFA has launched a campaign that encourages the ticket applicants to offset the carbon emissions resulting from their travel to the tournament for free! When a FIFA World Cup Russia ticket holder signs up to participate in the campaign, FIFA will offset 2.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO2e), which is the average emission per ticket holder travelling from abroad.
Waste Management Concept
Fifa have ensured efficient and sustainable World Cup-related waste management, with waste-reduction measures including banning non-recyclable tableware, cutlery, packaging and plastic bags from stadiums, and offering hand dryers instead of paper towels in event toilets and using digital rather than paper-based communications “wherever possible”. FIFA have also committed to drive behaviour change among fans and stadium staff by offering a waste training programme to all employees and providing spectators with information on what type of waste can be recycled, bans on single-use items or the use of recycled materials is noticeably absent from the strategy. In Brazil, the tournament saw 39% more waste recycled than FIFA’s target of 320 tonnes after separate bins for recycling and general waste were used for the first time– but the event nonetheless created 776 tonnes of recyclable and 1,595 tonnes non-recyclable of waste, with no less expected to be produced in Russia this summer.
Already at this year’s tournament, Japanese fans have shown a shining example to their counterparts from other countries by tidying up in the stadium after their games – and their good deeds have encouraged similar behaviour from Senegalese and Polish fans as well. It will be particularly interesting to see if the biggest single-sport event in the world lives up to its tall claims regarding environmental sustainability.
Top 5 reasons to dispose of hazardous waste correctly
Take a look around you, hazardous waste is everywhere and it’s more than likely that your business will produce some form of hazardous waste on a daily basis be it printer ink, chemical solvents or construction materials.Food businesses tackle plastic waste
Some of the UK’s largest supermarkets have signed up to the UK Plastics Pact, a new voluntary initiative to slash plastic waste. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose and Tesco have all signed up to the new industry-wide initiative that aims to make all plastic packaging recyclable, recycled or biodegradable by 2025.
What does the pact involve?
The UK Plastics Pact is voluntary and does not contain any enforcement mechanisms. Despite this, its signatories make a number of pledges to reducing plastic waste between now and 2025, including:
• Ensuring all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or biodegradable
• Eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic through better design
• Including recycled plastic in at least 30% of all packaging
• Guaranteeing that 70% of plastic is effectively recycled or composted.
These targets have been welcomed by environmental campaigners, including organisations such as Friends of the Earth, but some have also warned that regulation and enforcement mechanisms must be developed alongside the pact to ensure that it proves effective. The UK Plastics Pact website states: “Our throwaway culture needs to change. We need to move away from a linear plastics economy, where we take, make and dispose of plastic, towards a circular system where we capture the value of plastics material – keeping plastic in the economy and out of the oceans.” The website cautions that around 5,000 pieces of marine plastic pollution have been found per mile of beach in the UK.
The future of plastic packaging
The pact’s launch comes as ministers in the UK are considering requiring supermarkets and retailers to contribute more towards waste collection and recycling services for the waste they produce. Currently, UK supermarkets pay less for plastic waste collection and recycling than any other country in Europe, with taxpayers left to cover 90% of the cost, according to The Guardian. The government is expected to announce changes to the system, known as the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) scheme, this summer as part of a wider EU effort to move towards a circular economy.
