Invest NI seminars 'wise' to environmental concerns

Invest Northern Ireland in partnership with Envirowise and the Department of the Environment have organised two environmental seminars on waste management for December 2 at the Hilton Hotel, Belfast.

Both events have been designed to help local companies adjust to recent changes in government legislation on the disposal of hazardous wastes.

Almost all of Northern Ireland’s landfill operators have recently closed their doors to hazardous waste due to tougher government regulations on the disposal of these materials. This has resulted in considerably higher disposal and treatment costs for many local companies.

The recent changes are a consequence of the Landfill Directive, which aims to reduce the environmental risk from landfill waste, promote waste minimisation and create more consistent controls on the construction, management and content of landfills across the European Union.

Alan Neville, Director of Knowledge Management with Invest NI, said: “We have organised these seminars to help companies successfully navigate the current and forthcoming legislation on hazardous waste and show how they can enact measures that will both help reduce their environmental impact and protect their profit margins in the long-term.

“Both seminars will also help local companies adhere to future legislation which will shortly be introduced to reduce the hazardous nature of waste electrical and electronic equipment. This means that not only can hazardous substances not be used in new electrical equipment but also that computer monitor’s, TV’s and fluorescent tubes can no longer be disposed of in landfill sites”.

NI Envirowise Agent Sam McCloskey said that the overall effects of the tightened environmental regulations and the recent amendments to the European Waste Catalogue would result in more types of hazardous waste being generated, greater controls on the management and disposal of hazardous waste and more emphasis on producer responsibility.

He said all these would have a significant impact on businesses across Northern Ireland and that the seminars have been "specifically created to help local companies cope with and prepare for these changes".

For more information on the seminars please contact Envirowise on tel: 0800 585794 or via e-mail on events@envirowise.gov.uk.

(SP)