Citation:
Pollard SJT, Smith R, Longhurst PJ, et al., (2006) Recent developments in the application of risk analysis to waste technologies. Environment International, Volume 32, Issue 8, Environmental Risk Management - the State of the Art, December 2006, pp. 1010-1020
Abstract:
The European waste sector is undergoing a period of unprecedented change driven
by business consolidation, new legislation and heightened public and government
scrutiny. One feature is the transition of the sector towards a process industry
with increased pre-treatment of wastes prior to the disposal of residues and the
co-location of technologies at single sites, often also for resource recovery
and residuals management. Waste technologies such as in-vessel composting, the
thermal treatment of clinical waste, the stabilisation of hazardous wastes,
biomass gasification, sludge combustion and the use of wastes as fuel, present
operators and regulators with new challenges as to their safe and
environmentally responsible operation. A second feature of recent change is an
increased regulatory emphasis on public and ecosystem health and the need for
assessments of risk to and from waste installations. Public confidence in waste
management, secured in part through enforcement of the planning and permitting
regimes and sound operational performance, is central to establishing the
infrastructure of new waste technologies. Well-informed risk management plays a
critical role. We discuss recent developments in risk analysis within the sector
and the future needs of risk analysis that are required to respond to the new
waste and resource management agenda.