Course Duration: 50+ minutes

This online training course examines the legal responsibilities of handling waste and required systems for doing so. It covers vital information such as waste classification, waste transfer documentation and methods to reduce waste.
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environment Act 1995 state that anyone who handles, produces, imports, stores or disposes of waste needs to ensure it is done safely. Anyone involved in helping to meet these legal duties must be provided adequate training to do so.
Course Outline
Waste Management
This online course on waste management comprises two modules and an end test:
Module 1: Waste Management – Roles & Responsibilities
- The waste hierarchy
- Duty of care
- Roles & responsibilities
- Waste classification
- Hazardous waste duties
- Duties for hazardous waste carriers
- Duties for hazardous waste consignment
Module 2: Waste Management – Putting into Practice
- Recycling
- Waste utilisation
- Segregation
- Storage
- Transfer
- Documentation
- Audits
End Test
- End-of-course knowledge test to assess the trainee’s knowledge gained from this course
- 10 multiple-choice questions
- Pass mark – 80%
Learning Outcomes
By taking this Waste Management Training, users will have a greater awareness of:
- Waste hierarchy and how to apply it to all waste that is produced
- Duty of Care on any organisation that produces or handles waste
- Roles and responsibilities for waste management and duty of care
- Duties for hazardous waste consignment
- How to put waste management into practice
- How to inspect, audit and document the waste management procedures
Why Waste Management Training is Vital
Organisations have a clear moral and legal duty to manage the waste that they produce. Poor waste management contributes to air and ground pollution and surface water contamination. It also leads to ill health and speeds climate disruption.
In order to control for these negative impacts, the waste hierarchy must be applied to all waste that is produced. Wherever possible, waste should be diverted from landfills, systems of recycling should be in place and waste should be reduced. Any hazardous waste must be controlled, tracked and documented.
A failure to ensure that the waste you have produced is handled safely and within the law will result in significant fines and imprisonment.
Course Benefits
Choosing Human Focus for the environmental waste management course provides the following benefits:
- IIRSM approved
- Supports compliance with relevant legislation
- Protects organisation from breaches of environmental law
- Demonstrates compliance and social responsibility
- Provides staff with essential waste management information
- Concise yet informative content
Course Details
Study length | 50+ minutes |
Approval body | IIRSM approved |
Target Audience | Health, safety and environmental officers / anyone whose duties involve handling site waste – intermediate |
Format | Two interactive modules with an end of course test |
Assessment | Online multiple-choice test |
Certification | Online certificate issued immediately on course completion |
Certification Validity Duration | 3 years |
Frequently Asked Questions
Hazardous waste management in the safety sector is the assortment, transport, processing, reusing or disposal of waste materials. Managing waste can be a risky business as the sector has poor health and safety records as compared to the rest of British industries.
This places a legal duty on the health, safety and environmental officers as well as people responsible to manage such waste at work to properly train and educate their staff to ensure they are competent enough to work on such activities.
All organisations have a legal responsibility to ensure that they produce, store, transport and dispose of any waste without harming the environment. This is their duty of care.
To meet this legal duty, the waste hierarchy should be applied to all waste that is produced.
You must also:
- Store, segregate and transport waste securely and appropriately, ensuring that it does not cause pollution or harm human health
- Ensure that waste you produce is handled and transported by only those organisations authorised to do so
- Fill out waste transfer notes correctly, including accurate descriptions of waste, keep records of all transferred waste for a minimum of two years
- Fill out consignment notes when hazardous or special waste is moved
- Ensure that anyone taking hazardous waste away is authorised to do so
The five actions of Rs to promote waste management sustainability are:
Step 1: Refuse – The first step in the R process is to Refuse. This step means refusing to use types of products that produce excess waste or hazardous or harmful waste.
Step 2: Reduce – This step is about reducing the use of harmful and non-recyclable products to save money and prevent negative impacts on the environment. For example, reducing the number of single-use plastics or organic wastes.
Step 3: Re-use – One of the successful ways to protect the environment is by re-using single-use products in your business, rather than throwing them away.
Step 4: Re-purpose – Re-purposing particular items instead of refusing, reducing or re-using them. The upcycling process is one of the effective ways to protect the environment.
Step 5: Recycle – The last step of the R’s process is recycling. It is the most eco-friendly waste disposal method and protects the environment.
Sustainable waste management helps to decrease pollution, generate energy, and conserve natural resources. Not only is it vital to establish a flourishing natural ecosystem that benefits human and animal health, but it is also critical to free up precious land from landfills, enhance energy production, create jobs, and lower transportation and logistics costs.
Human Focus offers the following programmes under the environmental protection toolkit: