Consultation proposes to bring Environmental Permitting under civil sanctions

09 AUGUST 2010

Defra have launched another Environmental Permitting Regulations consultation. This one is looking at 7 key areas and only applies to England and Wales:

1. Introducing a common approach to keeping a permit in force if an individual who was the sole holder of an environmental permit should die
2. Making it easier to transfer a permit if an individual permit holder cannot be located
3. Removing certain obligations relating to traffic travelling to and from permitted waste sites, like landfills, from the Environment Agency
4. Reducing the burden of regulation on waste-derived fuel where it has ceased to be waste before being burned as a fuel
5. Changing some of the waste descriptions and codes for exempt waste operations and amending the scope of some of the exemptions
6. Introducing new “civil sanction” enforcement powers for the Environment Agency in the form of Fixed Monetary Penalties (FMP), Variable Monetary Penalties (VMP), and Enforcement Undertakings (EU)
7. Clarifying the interface between permitting under the EP Regulations and licensing under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 in respect of waste operations in the marine environment, including ship dismantling

Whilst most will be of little interest to the average waste producer, 5 and 6 above will have an impact.

The new Exemptions categories were only introduced in April. In general, they used similar criteria to the old system, but divided them into 4 headline activities - Use, Treatment, Storage and Disposal. These are all listed on our wastesupport site. However, it seems there were a number of issues that came out of the changes that required further amendment and these are shown below. Some are quite significant and it is worth reading through the list.

The other big change proposed by the Consultation is to bring the EP Regulations under the Civil Sanctions regime. This will allow the EA to apply Fixed Penalty notices or offences not considered worthy of a full prosecution although we understand that the EA is unlikely to be ready to use these new powers until the end of the year.

For those that produce or burn waste derived fuel, they should also read proposal 5 which is to treat RDF the same as any other fuel once it has ceased to be waste.

The full list of proposed Exemptions changes are below.

Annex II – Proposed changes to waste exemptions
Amendments to paragraph U1 (the use of waste in construction), paragraph T5 (Screening and blending of waste) and paragraph T6 (Treatment of waste plant matter by chipping, shredding, cutting or pulverising).
1. In respect of waste codes 03 01 05, 03 03 01 and 17 02 01, it is proposed to limit these exemptions to only the treatment or use of untreated waste wood. This approach would bring these exemptions in line with the approach taken in respect of several other exemptions from permitting for which material produced under T5 and T6 would ordinarily be utilised e.g. burning of waste in a small appliance (U4), use of waste for a specified purpose (U8 – as proposed by the amendment described below) and the use of waste as a mulch (U12).
Amendments to paragraph to paragraph U8 (Use of waste for a specified purpose)
2. The existing exemption provides for the use of wood shavings, woodchip, oversized compost and sawdust for horse ménages or animal bedding. It is proposed to limit the scope of these waste types to only allow “untreated” wood to be used for these purposes. This addresses Environment Agency concerns over the potential contamination of the bedding and the subsequent disposal/recovery of soiled bedding after it has been used.
3. The existing exemption (U8) currently limits the use of non-hazardous wooden telegraph poles and railway sleeper in the construction of buildings, fencing, barriers, containment or similar above ground construction. It is therefore proposed to expand this exemption to enable the use of waste hazardous wooden telegraph poles and railway sleepers through the expansion of the relevant waste types to include waste codes 17 02 04*, 19, 12 06* and 200127* (hazardous wooden telegraph poles and railway sleepers only) for specified construction activities.
4. In respect of paper pulp and paper sludge from recycling, it is proposed to include within the relevant waste type tables non-recycled paper fibre (03 03 10) and to allow waste paper pulp and paper sludge from paper manufacturing to be used under this exemption. We also propose amending the written description accompanying waste code 03 03 05 to only allow waste paper/paper sludge and paper pulp from which the ink has been removed to be used under this exemption. This amendment reflects concerns raised following the original consultation on revised waste exemptions from environmental permitting which suggest that unless the ink has been removed prior to use that it may contain high levels of metals and other ink derived contaminants.
5. Finally, to better reflect the way that the various waste types are utilised within the water treatment sector, it is proposed splitting treating waste water effluent and water treatment processes into two separate entries. In addition, it is also deemed appropriate to introduce a specific condition limiting the use of ferric chloride and aluminium hydroxide to below the 10 tonnes per day pollution, prevention and control limit.
Amendment to paragraph U10 (Spreading waste on agricultural land to confer benefit) and U11 (Spreading waste on non-agricultural land to confer benefit)
6. The Regulations currently provide for an exemption from the need for an environmental permit for the spreading of soil from the cleaning and washing of fruit and vegetables on agricultural land to confer benefit. The proposed amendment is to expand the relevant waste types to include waste code 02 01 01 (sludges from washing and cleaning fruit and vegetables on-farm). The existing exemptions also include ‘spent compost from the growing of mushrooms compost only’. For clarity it is proposed to remove the second reference to ‘compost’.
Amendment to paragraph S1 (Storage of waste in secure containers)
7. The Regulations currently provide for an exemption for the storage of waste in secure containers. The proposed amendment is to include the specific condition that each waste type must be stored separately.
Amendment to T16 (Treatment of waste toner cartridges by sorting, dismantling, cleaning or refilling)
8. The proposed amendment is to include waste ink cartridges within the description of the waste operation and to expand the relevant waste types to include waste code 08 03 13 (waste ink other than those mentioned in 08 03 12*).
Amendment to T11 (Repair or refurbishment of WEEE)
9. The proposed amendment is to expand the purpose of this exemption to enable the dismantling of WEEE components for recovery and use as spare parts.
Amendment to T30 (Recovery of silver)
10. The proposed amendment is to expand the relevant waste types to include waste code 09 01 06* (wastes containing silver from on-site treatment of photographic wastes).
Amendment to T19 (Physical treatment of waste edible oil and fat to produce biodiesel)
11. The proposed amendment is to expand the scope of the existing exemption to enable the small scale chemical treatment of up to 250 litres at any one time). This would bring the exemption in line with the existing Environment Agency low risk position.
Amendment to T27 (Treatment of sheep dip for disposal)
12. The proposed amendment is to expand the scope of the exemption to enable the treatment of used organophosphate sheep dip in a secure container located within the drain pen (as defined within the document published by Defra in August 2001 (reprinted June 2006) entitled “Groundwater Protection Code - Use and disposal of sheep dip compounds”. It is available on the Defra website1 - see Chapter 8 (Glossary of Terms).
Amendment to T23 (Aerobic composting and associated prior treatment), T24 Anaerobic digestion at premises used for agriculture and burning of resultant biogas and T25 Anaerobic digestion at premises not used for agriculture and burning of resultant of resultant biogas
13. To enable the composting/anaerobic digestion of used/soiled animal bedding described in U8 we are proposing to expand the scope of the exemption to include waste code 02 01 99 (animal bedding used in accordance with paragraph U8).