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On 30th October 2007, Waste Pre-Treatment Guidelines, new regulations for non-hazardous waste, came into force. They affect every business and organisation generating non-hazardous waste - that probably means you. If you don't prepare for it the consequences will be much higher waste disposal costs or the inconvenience of uncollected waste on your premises.
Treating the waste means satisfying the 3-point test:
1) treating must be physical, or biological, or chemical, or thermal, including sorting
2) the characteristics of the waste must change
3) the process must: - reduce its volume; or reduce its hazardous nature; or facilitate its handling; or enhance it's recovery
For the majority of waste producers you will satisfy the new guidelines by sorting your waste
By separating out elements such as cardboard, paper, plastics, glass or dewatering say, food waste, you will meet all 3 elements of the requirements because you will have treated it by sorting, changed the characteristics of the waste and reduced its volume.
Compaction is not pre-treatment as it doesn't change the characteristics of the waste. However, if the waste has been sorted with cardboard and plastics removed, before going into the compactor, the waste will have been pre-treated. What is left is residual waste and it makes sense to compact it in order to reduce the disposal costs futher.
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