Exemptions Review Team
Waste Permitting Unit
Defra
Area 6D, Ergon House
c/o 17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
23 Oct 2008
Dear Sir or Madam,
Consultation Response – Revised Waste Exemptions from Environmental
Permitting
I am writing to present the LARAC response to the above Consultation,
which is contained below, and I thank you for the opportunity to respond to
the above consultation.
The comments below are sent on behalf of the Local Authority Recycling
Advisory Committee (LARAC). LARAC is an association of well over 400 local
authorities across England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland whose
waste management and recycling professionals’ co-ordinate and operate
waste management services. Membership is drawn from all types of
authority including statutory Waste Collection (WCA), Waste Disposal (WDA)
and Unitary.
Overall LARAC is supportive of the proposals for the revised exemptions. It is
however of the opinion that certain proposals may have unintentional
negative side effects, and therefore need to be reviewed. Overleaf are our
detailed comments as requested in the consultation.
If you have any queries on this response or would like to discuss the matter
further then please contact me on 01786 850326 or khelwig@dsl.pipex.com.
Yours faithfully,
Karin Helwig
LARAC Policy Team
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
Consultation Response – Revised Waste Exemptions from Environmental
Permitting
Proposal 1 – to embody the principles and criteria used in the
formulation of these proposals in Government guidance for future
reviews
Although a sound comment for now, government guidance must by nature
remain flexible to respond to any changes to EU legislation.
Proposal 2 – to not provide the exemption for the storage of waste
associated with Part B activities
Installations already operating under a combined Part B and Waste Activities
permit have been subject to an additional application fee of £294 (as well as
the additional £95 on the annual subsistence charge). Installations operating
under a Part B only permit have not been subject to this additional fee. As
these installations will now move to a combined part B and Waste Activities
permit, LARAC wishes to see an application fee imposed on these
installations relating to the new Waste Activities part of the permit,
comparable to the £294 that has been charged at application stage of those
already operating under a combined permit. This fee should be charged
when the move to inclusion in the part B permit takes effect.
Proposal 3 – to change the regulation of on-farm producers of mushroom
compost from the Environment Agency to Local Authority regulation
through a Part B environmental permit.
LARAC agrees that regulation of on-farm mushroom composting should
transfer to Local Authorities, but feels that requiring a Part B permit from
on-farm mushroom composting is not necessary and contrary to the riskbased approach.
It considers that this requirement would incur unnecessary costs and would
therefore not be in the public interest.
Proposal 4 – to provide an exemption for Local Authorities to register
crushing, grinding, or size reduction operations where they consider the
activity to trivial for a Part B Environmental Permit.
LARAC would welcome such an exemption, provided that Local Authorities
are able to recover their costs through exemption registration charges. The
cost to Local Authority would depend on how triviality is to be determined;
until guidance is issued LARAC is therefore unable to judge whether this is
the case. If a visit is required to determine triviality, the standard fee of
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
£50 to register an exemption would not be sufficient to cover the cost of
assessment (as the £50 is based on visiting only 2% of installations per
annum.
Proposal 5 – to introduce 3-yearly registration periods
LARAC would welcome a change from open-ended registrations to 3-yearly
registrations. It may be appropriate if reminders to re-register are sent out
to installations approaching the 3-year period.
Proposal 6 – to introduce a charge for the registration of all registerable
exemptions
LARAC is concerned about the effect of the introduction of charges on
charitable organisations and community organisations, including community
composting projects. It would welcome proposals for a system whereby such
organisations can apply to have their fees waived (a turnover threshold
could be set).
Charges may pose a barrier to the “Third Sector Capacity Building
Programme” recently announced by WRAP.
LARAC is also concerned about the site-based charging system, in particular
about the effect on charitable and community organisations wishing to add
more sites subsequent to the original registration.
Proposal 7 – Not to introduce a general record-keeping requirement for
exempt operations
No comment
Proposal 8 – Not to introduce a statutory appeals mechanism for the
regulator’s failure to register an exempt waste operation
LARAC is of the opinion that the registering authorities’ normal complaints
procedures and the relevant ombudsmen will be sufficient for the purpose
and therefore agrees with this proposal.
Proposal 9 – To introduce a 3-yearly transitional period from October
2009 to 1st October 2012.
LARAC is satisfied with the proposals for the transitional arrangements in
general, but will await further guidance on enabling Local Authorities to
include waste activities in Part B permits. It cannot comment on the
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
transitional arrangements in full until a timescale for making these changes
is proposed.
Proposal 10 – to provide an enhanced public register of exempt waste
operations
LARAC is satisfied with the proposals regarding the maintenance of the
Public Register.
Proposal 11 – To provide revised environmental permitting guidance on
exempt waste operations
LARAC deems the proposed timescale on the development of guidance may
prove difficult to achieve. The proposal recognises that “…a combination of
Government guidance and regulators’ guidance will be needed to provide
clarity on the overall approach and specific requirements of the new
exemption system…”, yet the Local Authority regulator has not yet been
provided with guidance or direction on the inclusion of waste activities into
Part B permits (3.10.10). It is not possible for the Local Authority regulator
to contribute guidance on the procedural arrangements and technical
requirements and standards of the new system until it itself has been
provided with more clarity.
Proposal 12 – To include the principles for a regular review of
exemptions in the environmental permitting guidance
LARAC would welcome the installation of en “Exemptions Review Panel” but
feels that Local Authorities should be represented on this panel alongside
Defra, WAG and the Environment Agency.
Proposal 13 – To provide an additional transitional period for operators of
registered exemptions who newly need an environmental permit to
demonstrate technical competence in the environmental permitting
guidance.
Typo: 4.3.3 “the regulator should not issue a permit when it considers the
following are not the case”: delete the second “not”.
LARAC would like more clarity on a timeframe for the development on new
schemes for the demonstration of operator competence. Those higher risk
activities currently register under a notifiable exemption that will be
required to apply for a permit, are to do so by October 2010 at the earliest.
The length of the transitional period to demonstrate operator competence
should be set from the date of availability of the schemes.
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
Proposed exemptions
Non-WFD exemptions
LARAC welcomes the provision of non-WFD exemptions. It notes that the
definition of ‘collection point’ in Schedule 3A, Part 1, par. 1 does not allow
payment to be accepted by the collection organisation. LARAC would
suggest a ‘de minimis’ is set whereby schools, community and charitable
organisations are able to collect, and receive payment for, a certain amout
of recyclate, without being required to register. For cans and plastics, a
lower limit of 50 T is suggested. For paper, a lower limit of 100 T is
suggested.
1. Use of Waste
U2 Use of End of Life Tyres in construction
Notwithstanding the fact that adequate environmental protection should
be in place to mitigate the risk to the aquatic environment from the use
of tyres in underground construction, LARAC is concerned about the
effect of limiting exemptions to the use of tyres in construction to
‘above ground’ works on groups, in particular community groups,
involved in constructing sustainable buildings such as ‘earthships’ who
frequently use tyres underground. The cost of an environmental permit
may be prohibitive to such groups.
U5 Burning of Waste in a small appliance
LARAC is of the opinion that the burning of wood in a small appliance,
meeting the conditions and requirements of subparagraphs 3 and 4,
outside of the curtilage of a domestic dwelling should be nonregisterable. This would include woodstoves in pubs etc. It would not be
appropriate to make this a registrable exemption.
U11 Spreading Waste on Land to confer agricultural benefit /
U12 Spreading Waste on Land to improve soil structure or add
nutrients and biomass
It is not clear to LARAC why the distinction between U11 and U12 is
made. “The spreading of waste on land for the purposes of providing,
maintaining or improving the soil’s ability to provide a growing medium
by adding nutrients or biomass” would usually confer agricultural
benefit.
Furthermore, in LARACs understanding, EWC 19 05 99 relates to aerobic
processes only, and would include compost produced pursuant to T23
and T25, but not T24, whereas EWC 19 06 99 relates to T24 but not to
T23 or T25.
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
In order to improve the market for waste derived products whilst still
providing adequate levels of protection for the environment, LARAC
would propose the use of criteria and specifications, such as PAS, the use
of quantity limits and other conditions of use, to determine whether an
exemption is to be granted. Such criteria should be developed for all
liquid and solid products of waste processes, including Anaerobic
Digestion and MBT. The requirement of a permit for the spreading on
land of such products could be prohibitively expensive for potential
buyers and therefore have a significant negative effect on the developing
market for such products, ultimately resulting in more waste being
landfilled.
2. Treatment of Waste
T4 Preparatory Treatments (baling, sorting, shredding etc)
LARAC seeks further clarification on the term ‘unmixed’. Is waste
containing mixed materials listed in the same row in the table, such as
different types of plastics, or mixed aluminium and steel, allowed to
arrive?
If not, then LARAC wished to remark that if waste arrives and is treated
and stored in an unmixed state, as per 3(e) and 3(f), sorting does not
take place and the word sorting should therefore be deleted from the
title of the paragraph
T6 Treatment of Waste Wood and plant matter by chipping,
shredding, cutting or pulverising
LARAC is of the opinion that in woodland, garden or habitat
management, under certain circumstances, small amounts of chipped or
shredded waste wood and plant matter should be left on site to break
down naturally. There should be no requirement to register an
exemption in these circumstances. It is therefore proposed that a lower
limit, below which registration is not required, should be set, in terms of
weight per surface area.
T23 Aerobic Composting and associated prior treatment
LARAC is concerned that the maximum quantity that can be stored has
been set at 25 tonnes when the waste is produced or taken off-site.
Community composting sites can often be larger than this. A typical
composting bay might contain 4m3 compost; assuming a typical weight of
0.7t/m3 this would mean a maximum number of 9 bays. It would be
entirely disproportionate to require larger community composting
organisations to apply for a permit.
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk
T25 Treatment of Kitchen Waste in a Wormery
As above, LARAC is concerned that the maximum quantity of 6 tonnes
per annum would exclude community wormery projects from the
opportunity to register an exemption.
3. Disposal of Waste
No comments
4. Storage of Waste
No comments
LARAC, PO Box 28, Knighton, LD8 2WA
t.01544 267860 f.01544 267860 e. larac@btinternet.com www.larac.org.uk