Disposal and energy recovery

This page explains the risks in disposing of waste and energy recovery and how those risks can be controlled.

Once recyclables have been removed from waste, any residual materials need to be disposed of or otherwise utilised. This has traditionally been achieved by deposition into landfill but to meet EU landfill targets the amount (and type) of material going to landfill has reduced significantly and been diverted into that produce energy and/or other products.

Landfill

Landfill involves burying waste in quarries. The main health and safety risks to workers at landfill sites include:

Landfill fires – controlling the risk

In workplaces where dangerous substances are present, used, or produced, the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR) apply.

The Regulations require employers to assess the risks of fires and explosions that may be caused by dangerous substances in the workplace. These risks must then be eliminated or reduced as far as is reasonably practicable.

The aim is to protect employees and other people who may be put at risk, such as visitors to the workplace and members of the public.

DSEAR provides a hierarchy of safeguards that are required to eliminate, control or mitigate the risk of fire and explosion that may be associated with the production of landfill gases.

A number of Industry Codes of Practice (ICoPs) have been produced by the Environmental Services Association (ESA) in consultation with HSE, and endorsed by the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum.

  • DSEAR for the waste management industry (ESA ICoP 1)
  • Area classification for landfill gas extraction, gas utilisation and combustion (ESA ICoP 2)
  • Area classification for leachate extraction, treatment and disposal (ESA ICoP 3)
  • Landfill operations (ESA ICoP 5)

These are freely available on ESA's website.

Incineration and energy from waste

This has become more widely used in recent years as the government has increased the cost of landfill to incentivise greater recycling. It is the preferred option for disposing of some hazardous wastes. For example, clinical and chemical wastes require exposure to high temperatures to reduce or remove the hazards they pose.

You should carry out a risk assessment for handling and disposing of fly-ash following incineration and implement suitable control measures. Precautions should be taken to prevent ash from becoming airborne and subsequently inhaled, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Energy can also be recovered from a range of organic feedstocks (biomass) by modern processing plants to generate electricity or inject biomethane into the gas grid. This makes it an attractive prospect as at the same time as diverting waste material from landfill it provides economic and environmental benefits.

Due to the technical nature of the processes and the composition of the feedstock, there are a number of additional hazards associated with these processes. In additional to general health and safety requirements, you may need to consider the following legislation:

Biomass

All biomass energy generation technologies require the feedstock material to be pre-processed into a suitable form, for example sorted (mechanical biological treatment), shredded, pulped or pelleted, depending on the needs of the particular process.

Anaerobic digestion

The term 'anaerobic digestion' refers to a natural biological process which converts organic matter such as commercial and household food waste, garden waste and farm slurry, into energy.

There are two main types of anaerobic digestion – the primary difference between them is the temperatures reached in the process:

  • thermophilic processes reach temperatures of up to 60°C
  • mesophilic normally runs at about 35-40°C

Anaerobic digestion sites also have to comply with the Animal By Products Regulations so a mesophilic site would also have a pasteurisation unit to make sure the end product is safe.

Further information is available from:

Safely disposing of an LPG cylinder

Discarded cylinders which still contain containing compressed gases (or which are apparently empty but in fact still contain some residual content) commonly appear in the waste stream, especially at civic amenity sites and metal recyclers.

Collection

The quantities of compressed gas cylinders on a civic amenity sites or metal recycling site should be:

  • kept as low as is reasonably practicable within the limits of the safe storage facilities that have been provided
  • collected on a regular basis – it may take some time for smaller civic amenity sites and metals recyclers to accumulate sufficient cylinders to require a collection

The trade association Liquid Gas UK includes all the major manufacturers and fillers of LPG in the UK, and sets standards for the industry. Currently, the LPGA coordinates a LPG cylinder retrieval scheme and arrangements are in place for the major national companies.

WISH have detailed guidance for waste site operators on how to deal with orphaned gas cylinders in the waste and recycling industries.

Processing

Particular problems can occur when cylinders that are concealed within other metal waste are processed at metal recycling sites. Rupture of the cylinders within the fragmentisers or shredders can cause explosions.

Sites should have suitable systems in place to remove, so far as reasonably practicable, all cylinders from the waste stream to reduce the potential of such incidents.

Further information can be found at:

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Updated 2025-12-02