United Kingdom
Duty of care
In an amendment to the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991 No 2839), English local authorities have been given new powers to deal with fly tipping. The Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003 No 63), which came into force on 20 February 2003, will allow waste collection authorities identical powers to the EA in demanding to examine copies of Duty of Care documentation. Such documentation, required under the 1991 Regulations, include written descriptions of waste and transfer notices describing the quantity of waste, the type of containment and names and addresses of the transferor and transferee, both of which must retain copies of the documentation for two years.
(SO, 19 January 2003)
Incineration
Guidance on the Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC) has been produced by DEFRA. Aimed at operators of incineration and co-incineration plant, regulators, waste producers and waste managers, it provides a guide to the scope and regulatory and technical requirements of the Directive which came into force in the UK on 28 December 2002. Although it should be regarded as established guidance, DEFRA says that it would welcome any comments on experience of applying it. A plant will only be an incineration or co-incineration plant if it burns waste as defined in the Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC). This includes municipal waste, clinical waste, hazardous waste, general waste and waste-derived fuels. The Waste Incineration Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No 2980) apply to all existing installations from 28 December 2005 and immediately to all new incinerators.
(DEFRA, February 2003)
Landfill
Guidance on landfill completion has been published by the EA. It sets out what is required for surrender and completion of a landfill, the initial application for a permit and the aftercare stages, where an application to surrender an authorisation is made. It is applicable to both waste management licences and PPC permits and provides details of the technical requirements for surrender, but not the procedural requirements of the process. The EA can only accept an application for surrender of a landfill authorisation when it considers that a landfill no longer poses a pollution risk. Views are requested on a number of issues, including the risk-based approach, site reports and surrender criteria, before 6 June 2003.
(EA, 14 March 2003)
Guidance for landfill operators applying for PPC permits has been made available by the EA. The first tranche, which includes 50 sites, has to apply by 9 June 2003. The new guidance, deals with the area to be covered by a PPC permit for a landfill, and explains how to identify this area. The EA’s aim is to encourage operators to include areas no longer accepting waste in applications for a permit for operational sites, as under PPC, the whole installation has to be taken into account.
(EA, March 2003)
All landfill operators in England and Wales have been informed when they have to apply for a PPC Permit after the EA announced that it had completed its assessment of 970 conditioning plans submitted in 2002. Operators of landfills who plan to continue to accept hazardous waste had already been informed that the deadline was July 2004. Deadlines for the remaining landfill sites, which will accept non-hazardous and inert waste, have been allocated to one of five tranches with deadlines for permit applications ranging from May 2004 to May 2006. Those sites close to high priority European protected sites under the Birds and Habitats Directives will require permits first. Eight sites were considered to be unable to comply with the requirements for a PPC Permit and will now be closed.
(EA News, 24 March 2003)
Waste management licences
A revision of Waste Management Paper No 4 has been proposed. In a consultation paper launched by DEFRA, comments are requested on new draft guidance issued to take account of the transfer of the waste regulation function from the local authorities in England and Wales to the EA. DEFRA says that it believes the new guidance will offer a more modern, efficient and integrated approach to regulation by focusing on environmental protection and enhancement. The guidance sets out overall objectives and targets for the EA as well as specific requirements for determining applications for waste management licences together with their subsequent supervision and enforcement. It is proposed to implement a more proportionate system of regulation, which recognises the differences in risk posed by different waste activities. According to DEFRA, this should result in greater flexibility for the EA in dealing with technical considerations and standards of licensing. The deadline for comments is 6 June 2003.
(DEFRA, 14 March 2003)
The EA is seeking comments on a new approach to financial provision for waste management licence holders other than for landfill sites. Currently operators are required to secure funding so that if they do not meet their licence obligations, funding would be available for environment and public health protection. However, the EA is now proposing changes to this policy. These involve allowing operators of non-landfills that can demonstrate that they can make financial provisions, an exemption from setting monies aside. Another suggestion is that the way in which the amount of provision is calculated should be streamlined. Any changes would be implemented from 1 June 2003. Non-landfills include all waste sites, other than landfills subject to licensing and include transfer stations, treatment plant, civic amenity sites, recycling facilities and mobile plant. Views of stakeholders are sought on specific issues including how operators could demonstrate they are in a position to make financial provision; whether it is necessary to require a sum of money to be set aside; and how to quantify what constitutes adequate financial provision. Responses are requested before 2 May 2003.
(EA, 7 February 2003)
The EA is consulting on the ‘relevant convictions’ test which is applied on application for a licence, permit or for registration as a carrier or broker of waste following the conviction of an operator for an environmental offence. The EA intends to target the few operators which cause concern due to their criminal record. If such operators applied for a licence or permit then they would be encouraged to provide evidence of their intended future compliance in a ‘post conviction plan’, setting out the measures to be taken to ensure improvements in performance. Where convicted persons fail to demonstrate that they are suitable to hold a licence or permit, applications would be refused and the licence or permit revoked. The EA believes that applying the relevant conviction test would provide a deterrent and would encourage the operator to take measures to prevent further offences being committed. Comments on the proposals must reach the EA by 2 May 2003.
(EA, 7 February 2003)
Waste facilities
Views are being sought on new technical guidance for monitoring particulate matter in air around waste facilities. The guidance is intended to be used by EA staff, monitoring contractors, industry and other parties involved in monitoring particulate matter in these environments. The sites most affected would be landfills, transfer stations and scrap yards. The guidance will also be useful during applications, determination and compliance with permits and licences. Guidance is provided on which classes of particulate matter are relevant, how to assess impacts, sampling strategy and monitoring methodology. The EA is particularly interested to hear views on the use of numerical air quality criteria, the methods of choice for monitoring different types of particulate matter and whether the case studies add value to the guidance. Comments were requested by 14 May 2003.
(EA, February 2003)
WRAP
The European Commission has given partial approval to the Waste Resource Action Programme (WRAP) which provides aid measures to promote waste recycling. The Commission found that the WRAP pilot fund, a capital fund for investment in small and medium size companies specialising in recycling waste, complies with state aid rules. It also approved the WRAP lease guarantee fund and the regional and SME schemes which provide investment aid to recycling projects in the form of guarantees and grants. However, the Commission expressed doubts over the WRAP environmental scheme which provides subsidies for companies outside assisted areas for investment in recycling facilities. The Commission also queried the use of the scheme to provide aid in assisted areas, as the levels were higher than allowed under national, regional or state aid rules. The environmental scheme is now undergoing investigation by the Commission.
(European Commission Press Release, 19 March 2003)
End of life vehicles
A consultation paper issued jointly by DEFRA and the DTI is seeking comment on regulations for partially implementing the End of Life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC). The Directive, which came into force on 21 October 2000 and should have been transposed into national legislation by 21 April 2002, is aimed at reducing the amount of waste from end of life vehicles. It requires end of life vehicles and waste components to be collected and transferred to permitted facilities for treatment. It also sets targets for recovery, reuse and recycling. The consultation paper is seeking views on two draft statutory instruments – the End of Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 and the End of Life Vehicles (Storage and Treatment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003. These draft Regulations will bring into force a number of technical aspects of the Directive including: restrictions on the use of certain heavy metals in vehicles; the introduction of a ‘certificate of destruction’ for scrapped vehicles; the marking of some vehicle components as a aid to recycling; free take back for vehicles put on the market from July 2002; and the introduction of authorised treatment facilities for dismantling end of life vehicles to specified standards. The Government’s proposals for implementing the Directive have been criticised. Last owners of vehicles will be responsible for the costs of take back until 2007, which is likely to lead to an increase in the number of vehicles dumped over the period. The deadline for responses to the consultation is 6 June 2003. A further consultation on regulations on free take back of end of life vehicles of all ages and for meeting recycling targets in the Directive is planned for the near future.
(DEFRA and DTI, March 2003)
Tyres
The DTI has issued a further consultation paper on the disposal of tyres to seek views on the best way to meet the future ban on disposal to landfill. Responses to a previous consultation issued in mid 2002, highlighted a widespread concern over the fly tipping of tyres and called for a suitable framework to minimise such activity. Many local authorities supported a statutory producer responsibility duty on tyre manufactures, as did a joint response from the tyre industry. The majority of responses on the subject thought that obligations should be equally applied for all companies in the same sector. The consultation paper points out that the large-scale disposal of tyres to landfill is mainly due to the fact that it provides a cheaper option than recovery, and that there is adequate capacity in place for the recovery option. Views are now sought on: further steps the industry can take to provide more accountability for the recovery of tyres; the introduction of statutory requirements; and an overhaul of the composition and work of the used tyre working group. All responses must be sent by 6 June 2003.
(DTI, 7 March 2003)
Animal by-products
A draft Statutory Instrument to enable the enforcement of the EU Animal By-Products Regulation (EC No 1774/2002) in England has been issued. The EU Regulation will apply in Member States from 1 May 2003. Once in force, the SI will enable enforcement of the Regulation by providing for powers of entry, offences and powers for the Secretary of State to grant and withdraw approvals. A number of other provisions are also included which cover the keeping of specific records to demonstrate compliance with the Regulation. Views are requested on a number of issues such as the mixing of specified risk material with other animal by-products and the frequency of sampling of compost and biogas residues for microbiological testing purposes. The draft SI does not cover the import provisions of the EU Regulation as these are dealt with under another set of domestic Regulations, although it does cover national controls on the composting of catering waste which is subject to a separate consultation. The deadline for comments was 21 March 2003.
(DEFRA, January 2003)
Contaminated land
DEFRA has announced the formal withdrawal of the DoE Technical Document used to help assess land contamination – the ICRCL Guidance Note 59/83 (Second Edition), published in 1983. The document contained trigger values for a series of substances, commonly found in contaminated land. New technical guidance documents were published in 2002 which are more relevant to the assessment of human health risk arising from contaminated land. These comprise the CLEA package consisting of the main Contaminated Land Reports (CLRs) 7-10, the CLEA software and the Soil Guidance Values for individual substances (SGV). However, ICRCL 59/83 will remain available from DEFRA for historic purposes.
(DEFRA, 20 December 2002)
An EA project to review available and developing techniques for the characterisation of contaminated land has begun. The project will examine chemical, biological and physical parameters which can be used in the field for site characterisation and for monitoring the progress of remediation. Among the aims of the project are to look at the relevancy of the techniques to different contaminants and how data from these techniques may be interpreted. The use of field techniques has the benefit that they provide a preliminary screening tool to give an indication for more targeted sampling and analysis. The EA says that there is a current lack of understanding of how to use and interpret the data generated by field technologies and a lack of published information about their application.
(EA News, 4 March 2003)
Contaminated land – Scotland
Funding of £15 million has been allocated to local authorities in Scotland to help them identify and investigate contaminated sites. It is intended to help bring contaminated sites back into productive use and eliminating any threat to human health and the environment, in cases where those responsible for the pollution cannot be identified. The funding covers the period 2003 to 2006. The future distribution of resources will be decided when information on the extent and location of contaminated land becomes available after initial investigations of individual sites.
(Scottish Executive News, 18 March 2003)
National Waste Plan – Scotland
The Scottish Executive has launched its National Waste Plan. It contains targets for recycling and composting of 25% of municipal waste by 2006 rising to 55% by 2020. There are plans for segregated kerbside waste collection from 90% of Scottish homes. The Executive have said that £230 million will be invested over the next three years through the strategic waste fund to help local authorities put their area waste plans into operation.
(Scottish Executive News Release, 24 February 2003)
Recycling
The Municipal Waste Recycling Bill introduced by MP Joan Ruddock and Friends of the Earth, has successfully passed its second reading in the House of Commons. It is seeking to require the Government to ensure that 50% of domestic waste is recycled by 2010, which would replace the current target of 30%. At present only around 11% of waste is recycled. The Bill will now be discussed by a committee of MPs.
(Parliament, 14 March 2003)
Electrical and electronic equipment
A first discussion paper aimed at explaining the requirements of the two new Directives on electrical and electronic equipment (see below), as well as outlining the Government’s initial views has been published by the DTI. There are also a number of questions relating to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive (2002/96/EC) and a Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) (2002/95/EC). The questions relate directly to the implementation of the Directives in the UK. Comments need to be made by 30 May 2003, and will be considered for a further consultation later in 2003.
(DTI, 28 March 2003)
European Union
Electrical and electronic equipment
Two Directives dealing with the end of life management and design of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have been published in the Official Journal. Under the Directive on Waste EEE (WEEE) (2002/96/EC) producers will be responsible for collecting, treating, recovering and disposing of WEEE arising from their own products. Although there will be individual responsibility, producers may work together collectively to fulfil their obligation. Producers will also have to finance the management of WEEE put on the market before mid 2005 (historic waste). The Directive must be transposed into domestic law by 13 August 2004, with free take back of waste goods from final owners to be introduced one year later. The WEEE Directive also contains a range of recycling and recovery targets which vary with the appliance category and requires Member States to achieve an average waste collection rate of 4 kilograms per inhabitant per year by 31 December 2006. The second Directive to be published, restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in EEE (2002/95/EC) bans lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) in EEE from 1 July 2006. However, there are certain exemptions, which are to be reviewed by the European Commission before 13 February 2005. This review might introduce changes where progress has been made on the development of alternatives.
(OJ L 37, 13 February 2003)
The European Commission has published a draft text that could eventually form a proposal for a Directive. The text merges two initiatives, the impact on the environment and a policy measure concerning the energy efficiency of EEE. The draft Framework Directive, known as the End Use Equipment Directive (EuE), aims to ensure the free movement of End of Use EEE by integrating environmental concerns into the design and development of equipment. EuE is defined as equipment which is dependent on energy input and will require manufacturers to perform a conformity assessment of the EuE with the relevant requirements of implementing measures. These implementation measures will introduce eco design requirements which will consider the entire life cycle of equipment from raw materials through to end of life. At each phase of the life cycle, consumption of materials and energy, emissions to air and water, pollution, waste and recycling and reuse will need to be assessed. The draft has been criticised by environmental groups who claim that it contains no clearly defined environmental objectives and that the objectives are only based on the free movement of goods.
(European Commission, February 2003)
Batteries
The European Commission has issued a consultation paper on revision of the Batteries Directive (91/157/EEC). The Commission has stated that there is a need to reform the current Directive as it only covers the collection of batteries and accumulators containing certain quantities of cadmium, mercury or lead. In addition, it only prohibits the marketing of batteries and accumulators containing more than 0.0005% mercury. End of life batteries and accumulators can contain a range of toxic heavy metals including mercury, lead and cadmium which can cause environmental problems when incinerated or disposed of in landfills. The proposals for a new Directive include establishing collection targets for battery collection of 30%–40%, 60%-70% or 70%-80%, with car batteries having a separate target from 70%-100%. For recycling targets the range would be set at 45%-55%, 55%-65% or 65%-75%, with slightly higher targets for car batteries. Views are also sought on the introduction of producer responsibility, which would involve establishing free collection and take back facilities. In addition, higher collection and recycling targets are proposed for batteries containing cadmium, with the possibility of a target for cadmium recovery from spent batteries. Stakeholder input is also being requested on banning the use of cadmium in batteries where commercially viable substitutes exist. All views must reach the Commission by 28 April 2003.
(European Commission, February 2003)
Landfill
A Decision for waste acceptance criteria and procedures at landfills has been published in the Official Journal. The Decision sets out what types of waste should and should not be accepted at particular kinds of landfill sites. The Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No 1559) require that an operator must be able to show that waste can be accepted according to the site’s permit conditions and waste acceptance criteria. The guidance is relevant to waste carriers and consignors, as well as landfill operators when preparing a permit application who also must have the appropriate waste acceptance procedures in place at sites permitted under PPC. It is particularly useful for hazardous waste producers who now have a clearer view as to what is required if they wish to continue landfill as a disposal option. The EA issued draft guidance for the UK in September 2002 which already contains the majority of these measures. It is now working on incorporating the Decision into final guidance.
(OJ L 11, 16 January 2003)
Waste minimisation
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published a report containing case studies on waste minimisation practices in Europe. The report focuses on ten case studies of the most successful initiatives in Europe in the 1990s to promote and encourage waste minimisation. It is intended to publicise the initiatives so that other EEA countries can utilise the experience in meeting their own problems related to waste generation. The study’s other five themes in eight countries include producer responsibility, voluntary agreements, legislative requirements, information programmes and waste taxes. The report concludes that the volume of waste is continuing to increase, with recycling showing a lesser increase over recent years. However, the report also shows that encouraging separation at source, reducing landfilling, increasing recycling and waste prevention have been developed in many EEA countries and co-operation and exchange of technology and technology experience is needed to achieve further progress in waste management.
(EEA, January 2003)
Radioactive waste
A Directive aimed at ensuring the safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste has been published by the European Commission. Intended to protect the environment from the effects of ionising radiation, it would obligate Member States to ensure spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste was managed without contaminating water, soil or air and to appoint an authority to ensure safe management of the waste. A programme for radioactive waste and spent fuel management would have to be to establish the steps to be taken to achieve this. The proposal is also an attempt to persuade national governments to adopt deep underground burial as the preferred long-term disposal route for these waste sources.
(COM (03) 32, 30 January 2003)
For further information please contact Paul Sheridan on +44 (0)20 7367 2186 or at paul.sheridan@cms-cmck.com
