Health Safety in the Waste Management/Recycling Industry

Health and safety in the waste management and recycling industries
These pages explain what HSE is doing to tackle key issues as well as providing access to a range of information about health and safety for the waste management and recycling industries.
Defra indicates that the UK produces some 400 million tonnes of waste each year. A quarter of this is from households, commerce and industry. The remainder is made up of construction and demolition wastes, mining and agricultural wastes, sewage sludge and dredged spoils.
Municipal waste has been increasing at nearly 4% per annum: at this rate of increase, it will have doubled from the 1995 level by 2020.
Most waste currently ends up in landfill sites, but around 35% of industrial and commercial waste and 12% of household waste is recycled or composted. Under the EU Landfill Directive, the next 20 years should see a dramatic decrease in the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill.
Research for the HSE 'Mapping health and safety standards in the UK waste industry' indicates that there are currently around 162,500 people employed in the Waste Management industry. Many more are employed in other activities associated with specific recyclables and ancillary activities such as transportation.
Waste Management Activities include a multitude of activities, including:
Collection
Reception (e.g. Civic Amenity Sites)
Sorting
Recovery of materials
Biological treatment of organic materials (e.g. composting)
Thermal treatment (including incineration with energy recovery
Landfill