Miljøprojekt, 949 – Affaldstransportørers og mægleres rolle

The Role af Waste Transporters and Brokers

Summary and Conclusion

The general impression from a number of interviews conducted with waste transporters, brokers, waste producers, at treatment plants and municipalities, is that waste transporters and brokers to a great extent undertake more tasks for the waste producer than merely transporting waste from A to B.

Many waste transporters and brokers offer a total management program covering many different services, consultancy etc. A large part of the waste transporters also have their own facilities, e.g. waste sorting plants, transfer stations, treatment plants for construction and demolition waste etc.

Based on the principle of "the polluter pays" it is the waste producer who is responsible for the waste, but there is a growing trend towards waste producers handing over more and more tasks to the waste transporter/broker.

Therefore, the general tendency is that standard contracts between the waste producer and the waste transporter state that the waste producer is responsible for proper waste sorting while the waste transporter/broker in practice often undertakes the responsibility for the other elements of the transport/treatment.

The reason is i.a. that waste transporters/brokers have the qualifications and experience required to perform such tasks. Likewise, it is often financially attractive for waste transporters to undertake as many tasks as possible for the waste producer.

In many cases, it is not reflected in the practical day-to-day work that the waste producer is responsible for the waste, and some of the waste producers do not really experience it that way either.

Study of role division
The current trend is that waste transporters and brokers undertake more tasks for the waste producers, and the parties involved believe the trend results in advantages as well as disadvantages.

The advantage of the present development is i.a. that the transporters/brokers are able to advise and instruct each individual waste producer. The municipalities do not have the capacity to offer all waste producers such services.

To a certain extent, the market factors contribute to improved waste handling because of the large differences between treatment prices for incineration/landfilling and income from the recycling of various recyclable materials. Therefore, as part of their services, transporters/brokers can offer advice about the most profitable type of sorting – also in more fractions than the regulation requires in situations where it creates an increase in value.

The disadvantage of the present division of roles and rules concerning waste handling is i.a. that there is great difference between the requirements under the official rules regarding the waste producer's responsibility and knowledge of waste treatment, and the way the tasks are solved in practice.

In addition, the expertise and qualifications of the waste producers required to ensure the right waste treatment and registration are in many cases limited.

Reasons for changing roles and tasks
The fact that transporters and brokers increasingly carry out tasks in excess of transportation itself is due to a number of interacting reasons. Some of the most important are:

The increasing volume (in terms of amount as well as economy) of waste that has to be handled and the increasing specialisation within waste treatment result in intensification as well as larger companies among transporters and brokers. With increased capacity and improved equipment they can offer more activities and services – possibly as total waste management concepts. Transporters and brokers are spreading themselves to more and more activities in the "value chain", and transportation itself is becoming a secondary source of earning. The trend is that neither people treating the waste nor transporters can make a living by performing one activity only – i.e. treatment or transport.
The increased complexity of the waste treatment requirements involves a growing need for know-how and consultancy among the waste producers. Therefore, know-how and consultancy are becoming larger business areas. The authorities' lack of resources to supply instructions contributes to the creation of a market for the consultancy offered by the transporters/brokers.
The tasks the waste transporters are given only to a lower degree, have low priority among the waste producers – and often they are not carried out at all. That is partly due to lack of attention from the waste producers and partly due to lack of follow-up by the authorities.

Future wishes to role division
The proposal for a changed role division covers the following main element:

It should be possible to change the responsibility of the waste producer and the waste transporter, so the waste transporter becomes responsible for tasks according to special conditions. This i.a. includes:

Labelling the equipment, and legal responsibility for packaging and labelling of waste.
Possible to purchase placement of responsibility, so that the waste producers can purchase impartial advice from an authority/company that undertakes legal responsibility for the chosen classification etc.
Waste treatment – when it is in the care of the transporter it should be the transporter's responsibility. With reference to these conditions the transporter could be made responsible for the waste being treated at the right waste treatment plant.
A type of approval/qualification to ensure that the waste producer receives impartial counselling – so the chosen collection equipment does not depend on what the transporter knows – or what is in the transporter's own interest.
Request for deregulation and for national, uniform solutions for waste registration, common pictograms, common reporting systems and forms, registration of national transporters and standard waste regulations.

Proposal for future role division model
In the course of the project, a model was prepared in which the definitions have been changed, so that transporters are divided into ordinary transporters and collectors, respectively.

In the model ordinary transporters are allowed to carry out the following tasks for the account of others:

Transportation of waste from A to B ordered by the waste producer
Transportation of waste ordered by the treatment plant
Transportation of waste ordered by the collector
Transportation of waste from A to B ordered by the broker who is authorised by the waste producer.

That means that an ordinary transporter is not allowed to mix waste from several waste producers (e.g. in a compactor vehicle) if transportation has been ordered through the waste producer.

The ordinary transporters must have permission to transport goods and be registered in a national register.

Ordinary transporters are not obliged to register transported waste, cf. the project "Model for waste data" (Danish title: "Model for affaldsdata").

Collectors might base their activities in a transport company or a treatment company where the transporters are connected to the network, and could be ordinary transporters.

The collectors must be approved as collectors, and approval will in the future will be given under a national approval scheme.

The reasons for introducing national registration of transporters and approved collectors is that interviews and test seminars have revealed a request for an administrative simplification of the current request for registration of waste transporters in all municipalities in Denmark. At the same time, it will be ensured that the registration requirements applying to waste transporters, brokers and approved collectors fulfil the EU rules and regulations. Therefore, it is suggested that in the future, transporters, brokers and approved collectors will only have to be registered in one register.

In particular, national registration will make it easier for the approved collectors, who typically operate at a national level and, thus, across municipal borders.

The reason for introducing a national approval of collectors is that approved collectors typically offer services that include solutions or instructions on how to solve several of the tasks the waste producer is responsible for. Therefore it should be ensured that the collectors have the expertise required to offer such services.

Division of transporters into ordinary transporters and approved collectors and the introduction of national registration and approval of collectors are expected to result in more uniform terms of competition.

The model suggests that brokers must in the future register in a national register. The reason is that in accordance with the EU Directive 75/442 about waste, rules concerning the registration of brokers are, thus, introduced.

In the proposed model, approved collectors will take over the ownership of the waste when it is collected at the waste producer's plant, and in that way they have the right of disposal and responsibility for the waste.

Interviews and test seminars have revealed that the transporters, who today function as collectors in accordance with their contract, typically decide at which approved waste treatment plant the waste will be treated. The problem is that, according to current legislation, the waste producer appears to be responsible for the waste arriving at the right waste treatment plant, without in any way being able to influence the procedure. By allowing ownership and responsibility to change when the collector has collected the waste, the waste producer and the approved collector are both responsible for the waste during the period in which they have the right of disposal, and in that way the role division becomes more clear.

In the future, the waste producer will have to choose between:

An approved collector, in which case the responsibility for the waste is transferred to the collector after collection.
An ordinary transporter, in which case the waste producer is responsible for ensuring that the right type of treatment is used and that the waste is treated at the right waste treatment plant. Likewise, if the waste producer wants to export the waste, he has to make sure that the export rules are observed, including notifying export of waste according to the EU regulation 259/93 concerning export of waste and reporting data as stated in "Model for waste data".

In both cases, the waste producer is obliged to:

Source separate correctly according to current rules
Classify hazardous waste correctly
Store the waste properly until it is collected
Provide correct packaging and labelling of the waste according to current rules.

With reference to "Model for waste data", approved collectors will in future be obliged to report waste data to a common national database. If the approved collectors export waste, such procedures also have to be reported.

Waste producers included in the lists in Statutory Order no. 367, 1992, and Statutory Order no. 652, 2003, merely have to approve the identity card that is automatically generated in the new waste data model, cf. "Model for waste data".

In order to become an approved collector, he must fulfil a number of requirements relating to the expertise of the waste collectors. It is proposed that they should have a number of skills, including:

Being able to offer consultancy about collection equipment
Being able to offer basic advice about waste sorting of all waste fractions
Having knowledge of special requirements for the handling of hazardous waste
Being able to register waste amounts and send the data to authorities and waste producers
Being able to help fill in identity cards if they are retained
Being able to communicate the waste hierarchy, including knowledge of existing types of treatment and treatment plants
Being able to communicate the main content of nationally determined rules and municipal directives
Having knowledge of municipal/county supervision and consultancy services
Having knowledge of special rules regulating import and export of waste.

These skills are acquired through appropriate courses with final examination and the issuance of a diploma.