Make sure you obey the law

It’s not impossible to stay on top of the UK’s flourishing environmental regulations, but a structured approach is needed. Words Christopher White

Let’s assume you don’t spend your quieter hours sitting in front of BBC Parliament, taking notes about the various white papers and parliamentary bills rebounding off the shiny green seats. If this is indeed the case,then it is quite possible that your knowledge of environmental legislation might be somewhat rudimentary. This could be a problem.

For although the environment may be making fewer headlines of late, as the continuing global recession has moved ecological matters further down the news agenda, legislation in the area continues to evolve rapidly – much of it affecting print companies. Hence, while print customers may not be hugely focused on eco credentials, printers need to keep their finger on the eco pulse to avoid potentially extremely severe penalties.

Environmental regulations cover a wide area of business and are housed in a number of different legislative documents, so keeping up to date can be tricky. Issues to keep on top of are as diverse as planning rules concerning noise or restrictions on transport, and pollution as a result of spillages or via contamination of the ground.

“Ink tanks are a particular concern and often have bunds around them to contain leaks,” says commercial and dispute resolution lawyer Philippa Dempster, a partner at Freeth Cartwright.

There are also waste packaging regulations to consider, as well as waste itself. “Although printers may use a contractor to remove their waste, they have a statutory duty of care to ensure that their waste is handled and disposed of safely and in accordance with legal obligations,” explains Dempster.

“Contracts are therefore very important, as are spot checks.” Beyond these areas, however, there are several pieces of legislation with which printers will need to be familiar and they may have to take a broad brush to their research, as most of this law is general and applies to industry across the board.

“Environmental legislation in this country is usually framed so it could apply to any business, so there isn’t any set of legislation that says ‘This is what printers have to do’,” explains corporate social responsibility consultant Dick Dalley. “There is an exception to that. There is a certain set of regulations that applies specifically to printers, and my experience in the past is that many large print sites have been caught out by these regulations.”

They pertain to solvent emissions. Many inks and other printing chemicals are carried in solvents, or volatile organic compounds, and emission of them into the atmosphere is a concern in terms of pollution control as solvent fumes
can contribute to smog formation. Under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations, or equivalent legislation in Scotland or Northern Ireland, printers who handle more than a certain quantity of solvents annually will require a permit to be able to operate their whole print site. They are known as ‘part B’ permits for the section of the regulations
from which they come.

The amount of solvent handled can be worked out from the amount of ink used and how much solvent is in that ink, and the threshold beyond which a permit is required depends on the print technology being used: for heatset web offset it’s 15 tonnes a year; for coldset web offset 25 tonnes, and so on.

RELEVENT LAWS

Environmental Protection Act 1990;
part II covers the main waste offences and part III covers statutory nuisance such as noise pollution. Part IIA also contains the Contaminated Land Regime, which empowers local authorities and the Environment Agency to require clean-up and recover the costs of any damage. This is usually enforced by the local authority with the Environment Agency also having some powers.

Environmental Permitting
(England and Wales) Regulations 2010
cover the permits required for handling solvents above a certain quantity and also replaced the Water Resources Act 1991 for water-pollution offences.

Town and Country Planning Act 1990
covers planning issues. This is enforced by the local authority or the county or unitary authorities.