You’ve read our last three blogs on waste and have determined that the material you want to dispose of, move or use is likely to be classified as waste and you know you have a duty of care to ensure that the waste is dealt with in accordance with the law. We’ve been referring to environmental permits, exclusions, registered exemptions, position statements and registrations and now you are even more confused! What do I or others in the chain need to do to comply? What even is a permit?
In this blog, we will give you a very brief overview of each type of regulatory requirement to try and answer those questions.
Environmental permits
An environmental permit is essentially an authorisation from the Environment Agency for you to manage, store, use and produce waste for specific purposes and within specific parameters. Basically, you are permitted to manage, store, use and produce waste provided you pay the EA a fee (usually sizeable!) for doing so.
There are two main types of environmental permits: standard rules permits and bespoke permits.
Commonly used and managed operations for disposal, storage and recovery of waste will usually have standard rules permits which the EA hands out on a regular basis. With these, there will be set standard requirements for storage and use, management, records etc which will apply to the vast majority of businesses running that type of operation. All the standard rules permits available for application are on the EA website. You will need to search for the permits which most closely align with your operations and check if those would seem to fit with your business. If so, you just apply for that standard rules permit, pay the relevant fee(s) to the EA and once the EA has reviewed your permit and issued it, you can get on with your business – subject of course to fully complying with all the requirements of the permit.
Where what you are doing or wanting to do isn’t covered by one of the standard rules permits, you’ll need to apply for a bespoke permit. A bespoke permit application to the EA will be more involved than a standard rules permit, will take longer and will usually be more expensive. The EA do offer a service for enquiring about permits.
A breach of any of the conditions of an environmental permit is a criminal offence, as is not having the correct permit.
Exclusions
Exclusions are either a. where the material which would ordinarily be waste is not waste in the circumstances or b. are specific operations involving waste where a permit or exemption is not required for you to be able to operate. These are limited and case specific.
An example of an exclusion is where the activity was carried out in an emergency.
For some specific types of waste, if you comply with an industry code of practice which is approved by the EA, you will not need a permit or exemption where you ordinarily, in the absence of the code of practice, would do. For example, the CL:AIRE Definition of Waste Code of Practice (DoW:CoP) allows for the movement and reuse of excavated materials such as soil on-site or between sites, and is particularly useful for construction companies and housing developers.
Registered exemptions
Some common and low risk activities with waste have available exemptions for the use or storage of particular waste materials.
These will usually have relatively low limits for volume of waste. They are designed for smaller waste operations to reduce the regulatory burden for businesses where the risk of harm to the environment or human health is low.
In order for a business to rely on an exemption, they need to register the exemption with the EA. A breach of an exemption, e.g. by using more waste than the exemption allows or registering more than one exemption at the same site for the same time period in order to attempt to increase your capacity, is a criminal offence.
Low Risk Waste Positions and Regulatory Position statements
Low Risk Waste Positions (“LRWPs”) and Regulatory Position Statements (“RPSs”) are generally collectively known as ‘position statements’. These are issued by the EA in relation to specific uses of waste where they consider there to be a low risk to the environment or human health if various conditions are complied with.
In the case of LRWPs, the EA provides that these activities do not require a permit if all conditions in the LRWP are met.
In the case of RPSs, the EA will not take any enforcement action for the use of the waste without a permit or exemption. RPSs tend to be temporary and are issued where there is a particular challenge facing an industry and without the position statement there is likely to be considerable burden on businesses and an increase in inevitable unpermitted activities.
Any use beyond the position statement will attract enforcement action and potentially prosecutions.
Other registrations – waste carrier, broker or dealer registration
In order to carry or transport waste, you must have a waste carrier’s licence. The process for applying for a waste carrier’s licence is relatively simple and can be done online. Once you have a licence you will be on the EA’s online register which customers can check.
You will need to complete the same registration application if you buy, sell or dispose of waste (waste dealer) or if you arrange for someone else to buy, sell or dispose of waste (waste broker).
Most people know you need to have a waste carrier’s licence if you transport waste and most people know to check this. Fewer people are aware of the requirements for dealers and brokers.
The duty of care we explained in last week’s blog includes dealers and brokers and checking their registrations if they are involved in a waste transfer transaction.
If you have any concerns or queries, or are being investigated by the EA for waste issues, please contact our Regulatory Team who will be happy to help.