ABSTRACT
Before 1972, there was no legislation concerned primarily with the broad problems of waste disposal; the only controls were the control of waste for public health under the public health legislation. The first preventative legislation was contained in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which required any new development, including waste disposal sites or plants, to have planning permission. In 1972, a scare about the dumping of toxic waste led to the Deposit of Poisonous Waste Act. The first extensive legislation controlling waste was the Control of Pollution Act 1974. This made it an offence to dispose of waste on land without a disposal licence. The licence could be rejected on the ground that it may cause water pollution or a danger to public health. However, there was no real development of a waste policy at this time and many of the controls were reactive, rather than preventative.
