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Last edited 07 Mar 2021

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Waste management treatment and disposal services

Waste management services can assist companies with their industrial waste. Some industries generate more waste than others and those that generate a lot in the course of their business can find it cost effective to have someone else deal with it on a contractual basis. This includes ensuring that waste is collected, treated, processed, recycled, reused or disposed of.

As we produce more and more waste, partly as a result of more and more packaging, waste management services are becoming more sophisticated and better able to deal with the problem.

In industry there is a growing need for waste management services, some specialising in certain aspects of it and others attempting to be all things to all companies. Those who specialise in certain areas can sometimes deliver a better service as they can fine tune their expertise into a narrow and clearly defined area. For example, industries such as the oil industry or chemical industry usually need waste management services that can respond to situations 24 hours a day 365 days a year and could involve coping with an unexpected emergency, an oil or dangerous chemical spill.

Waste management services trained and expert in dealing with the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste is invaluable to these industries. They will most likely have licensed facilities for the treatment and transfer of contaminated waste and the personnel trained and experienced to carry out the operation.

The first line of defence against an emergency spill can be the use of skimming equipment to try and recover the spill. Booms and dispersants as well as absorbents and may also be used. Waste can be transferred from the site to a holding facility using appropriate waste transfer vehicles.

The industries that can have a serious waste problem rely heavily on the expertise and experience of professional waste management services. Their emergency response teams can contain, collect and treat hazardous waste in the fastest possible time, thereby rendering the situation as safe as possible as quickly as possible.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive all give useful guidance on the regulations governing the storage of hazardous waste in the UK. All service providers have to operate under these regulations and each one should be a registered waste carrier, usually also having a facility with an appropriate permit for accepting and treating hazardous waste, as well as its possible disposal.