Permitting

Are you affected?
Aircraft dismantling
What is required?
Further information
360 Environmental Permit and Planning applications
 

Are you affected?

In England and Wales, if you with to carry out a waste treatment activity on a site, you will need to get a Permit from the Environment Agency of Local Authority.
‘Treatment’ is considered to be where waste either has a process applied to it – other than simple storage processes like baling or compaction – or where waste from other sites is stored. Therefore, for instance, if you bring waste back from your shops to one site for sorting, that site would need a Permit.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, permitted activities are covered by the Pollution Prevention and Control requirements and you would need to register with SEPA or the local council.
Some extremely low risk activities covered by Exemptions. If you just store recyclable waste at a site prior to onward transfer to a reprocessor, that would require the site to be registered an Exemption with the appropriate Agency.
Some wastes are classified as non-Waste Framework Directive waste. These can be stored and have basic treatment - such as compaction and baling - without an Exemption or Permit to facilitate their onward movement. There are three situations where this occurs:

• Temporary storage of waste at place of production
• Temporary storage of waste at a place controlled by the producer
• Temporary storage at a collection point

The first allows waste produced on site to be stored and have 'ancillary' treatment applied without registering an Exemption. This includes compacting and baling to assist with the movement of waste or shredding, for instance.

The second allows a waste producer - who the Agency deem to be a company, not a site - to store waste it has produced at one site at another site that it 'controls' or in a container it 'controls' on someone elses site where the owner has given permission. This might include a supermarket returning packaging from shops to a DC, or a maintenance company storing waste fluorescent tubes in their own container on someone else's site.

The third relates to where a shop may offer a collection point for WEEE or batteries, for instance.

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Aircraft dismantling

The Waste Framework Directive definition of waste - ie where something is discarded or the person has the intent to discard - has led to a recent requirement for clarification by the EA over when aircraft become waste.

The EA's position is that when the owner of an aircraft decides that it has reached the end of its flying life, then that is the position at which it becomes waste. Any site then removing parts from that aircraft or scrapping it must therefore be Permitted. This would include, for instance, an airline hangar at an airfield where the airline removed parts for spares before handing it over to a company to cut up for scrap. The airline would need an Environmental Permit and Planning for the hangar and the scrapping company would need a mobile plant permit to cut up the aircraft.

The only exception to this would appear to be if the aircraft is destined for a museum.

360 is now well versed in these requirements having had considerable debate with the EA over definitions and requirements and having compliled and submitted the necessary Permit application.

What is required?

In England and Wales

In April 2008, new Environmental Permitting Regulations came into force that simplifies and combines pollution prevention and control (PPC) permitting and waste management licensing (WML).

A Defra brief Guidance document and longer Guidance explains the main requirements whilst the EA have published a series of Guidance documents.

The previous Regulations have now been replaced by the The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 which consolidate recent amendments and incorporate the new Exemptions which will supersede those listed below from 6 April 2010. A summary of these have been produced by the EA whilst a Draft Guidance document produced by Defra gives a practical explanation of how they should work. 

We have produced tables to show which replacement relates to which original exemption. 

There are two main types of permits – standard and bespoke. Most waste activities that require a Permit are likely to fall under the Standard Permit requirement. These include transfer stations, sorting facilities, composting sites and pet crematoria. Information is available on the EA website and applications can be made online by clicking onto the relevant activity. Charges are applied for Permits under a fairly complex charging scheme. Guidance is available on the charging mechanism.

The Regulations require sites with Environmental Permits to demonstrate their competence to run the site. There are two methods of satisfying this requirement.

The traditional way is for a site to have a suitably trained person, either someone with a Certificate of Technical Competence or someone who is Deemed Competent on the site, depending on the level of permit. 'Competence' used to last for life once a person had passed the course or been approved as Deemed Competent, but as from 1 March 2009, all CoTC and DC holders will be required to pass a test of Continuing Competence every two years with the first test being required before 1 March 2012. WAMITAB is the main awarding body for CoTC who have produced an extremely comprehensive FAQ.  

A new system has now been introduced where a business - rather than an individual - gain put in place the necessary procedures on the back of ISO 9001 to be able to demonstrate that it has suitably competent people. This means that a site is not just dependent on one person, but is able to satisfy the competence requirements through its processes. This system has been devised by the Environmental Services Association and the Skills Council.

Guidance on Operator Competence has been produced by the Environment Agency for England and Wales.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, waste management licensing is managed under The Waste Management Licensing Regulations and regulated by SEPA and the NIEA.

Exemptions are likely to be much more relevant for most businesses. Applying for a simple Exemption requires a short form to be completed and sent to the Agency.
Exemptions registered for WEEE treatment attract a charge (£840), but all other exemptions are free to register. Exemptions have to be renewed every three years.
SEPA Exemptions information can be found here with a list of different wastes and their Exemption number shown on this table.

The Environment Agency Public Register holds details of all sites that register under the new Exemption system in England and Wales as well as those with Environmental Permits.

There is a popular misconception that mixed recyclables can be sorted under an exemption. This is not true and only materials of the same type can either be stored or sorted under an exemption (eg paper types from a mixed cardboard and paper load or plastic bottles and plastic film) unless it is very small amounts (up to 10 tonnes over a 7 day period) under a T10.

Exemptions are now categorised as:

U - use of waste
T - Treatment of waste
S - storage of waste
D - disposal of waste

Explanations of these can be found on the EA site, but on our Wastesupport site, you can view the comparison with the previous exemptions and which new exemption replaces which old one.

U1 – Use of waste in construction
U2 – Use of baled end-of-life tyres in construction
U3 - Use of waste in the construction of entertainment or educational installations etc
U4 – Burning of waste as a fuel in a small appliance
U5 – Use of waste derived biodiesel as fuel
U6 - Use of sludge for the purposes of re-seeding a waste water treatment plant
U7 – Use of final effluent to clean a highway gravel bed
U8 – Direct and beneficial use of waste for a specified purpose
U9 – Use of waste to manufacture finished goods
U10 – Spreading waste on agricultural land to confer benefit
U11 – Spreading waste on non-agricultural land to confer benefit
U12 – Spreading mulch
U13 – Spreading of plant matter to confer benefit
U14 – Incorporation of ash into soil
U15 – Pig and poulty ash
U16 – Use of De-polluted end-of-life vehicles for vehicle parts

T1 - Cleaning, washing, spraying or coating of relevant waste
T2 - Recovery of textiles
T4 - Preparatory treatments (baling, sorting, shredding etc)
T5 - Screening and blending of waste
T6 - Treatment of waste wood and waste plant matter by chipping, shredding, cutting or pulverising
T8 - Mechanical treatment of end-of-life tyres
T9 - Recovery of scrap metal
T10 - Sorting mixed waste
T11 - Repair or refurbishment of WEEE (Waste electrical and electronic equipment)
T12 - Manual treatment of waste
T13 - Treatment of waste food
T14 - Crushing and emptying waste vehicle oil filters
T15 - Treatment of waste aerosol cans
T16 - Treatment of waste toner cartridges by sorting, dismantling, cleaning or refilling
T17 - Crushing waste fluorescent tubes
T18 - Dewatering using flocculants
T19 - Physical treatment of waste edible oil and fat to produce biodiesel
T20 - Treatment of waste at a water treatment works
T21 - Recovery of waste at a waste water works
T22 - Treatment of animal by-product waste at a collection centre
T23 - Aerobic composting and associated prior treatment
T24 - Anaerobic digestion at premises used for agriculture and burning of resultant biogas
T25 - Anaerobic digestion at premises not used for agriculture and burning of resultant biogas
T26 - Treatment of kitchen waste in a wormery
T27 - Treatment of sheep dip for disposal
T28 - Sorting and denaturing of controlled medicines and drugs for disposal
T29 - Treatment of non-hazardous pesticides by carbon filtration for disposal
T30 - Recovery of silver
T31 – Recovery of monopropylene glycol from aircraft antifreeze fluids
T32 – Treatment of waste in a biobed or bio-filter
T33 – Recovery of central heating oil by filtration

S1 – Storage of waste in secure containers
S2 – Storage of waste in a secure place
S3 – Storage of sludge

D1 – Deposit of waste from dredging of inland waters
D2 – Deposit of waste from a railway sanitary convenience
D3 – Deposit of waste from a portable sanitary convenience
D4 – Deposit of agricultural waste consisting of plant tissue under a Plant Health Notice
D5 – Depositing samples of waste for the purposes of testing or analysing them
D6 – Disposal by incineration
D7 – Burning waste in the open
D8 – Burning waste at dock under a Plant Health Order Notice

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360 Environmental Permit and Planning Applications

The following applications have been submitted by 360 Environmental on behalf of clients. Unless otherwise specified, all have been approved.

• Biomass plant, Birmingham – 2010 
• Land regeneration in SSSI, London - 2011
• AD Plant, Leicester – 2011 (being processed by authorities)
• Plastics recycling facility, Corby – 2011 (being processed by authorities)
• Aircraft dismantling facility, Leicestershire – 2011 (being processed by authorities)

• ELV and metal recycling facility, Evesham – 2011
• Dry recycling transfer station – North Yorkshire - 2011

• Plastics recycling facility, Derby – 2009
• Plastics recycling facility, Grimsby - 2010
• Plastics reprocessor, Cheshire – 2010 (withdrawn by client)
• Hard plastic sortation facility, Birmingham – 2010 (withdrawn by client)
• Dry recycling sortation facility Coventry - 2011
• ELV and metal recycling facility, Bolton – 2011 (being processed by authorities)

• Plastics recycling facility, Leicestershire – 2009
• WEEE sortation facility, Nottingham – 2010
• WEEE sortation facility, Sheffield – 2010
• WEEE sortation facility, Bury St Edmunds – 2010
• WEEE sortation facility, Wellingborough – 2010
• WEEE sortation facility, Rochester - 2010
• Metal recycling facility, Brighton – 2010 (withdrawn by client)

• Waste transfer station Norfolk - 2011

Further information

Environment Agency

Netregs

SEPA - Review of waste regulation

Northern Ireland

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