Further supplementary memorandum submitted
by the Environment Agency (Waste 30b)
Thank you for your letter of 21 October 2008
requesting additional information.
In the attached annex I have summarised our progress
to date with the Waste Protocols work and indicated the further
work that is planned. I can advise that all of the work is on
track.
You asked for clarification of the principles
we use to set out licence conditions for incinerators on the use
of heat. We believe that heat should be recovered as far as practicable,
consistent with the requirements of Best Available Techniques.
Heat is usually first recovered through the generation of electricity.
The residual heat is sometimes captured to heat water or generate
steam. We recognise that plant location and the availability of
long term customers has a significant bearing on whether it is
viable to recover this residual heat.
We require all municipal waste incinerators
to recover energy and will not issue a permit for a plant without
any energy recovery. We ask operators to design their facilities
to optimise the generation of electricity and then to ensure that
residual heat, that would otherwise be lost, could be used to
generate a supply of steam or hot water in case opportunities
for its use subsequently arise. All of the existing municipal
waste incinerators generate electricity with a few also providing
heating / steam.
Our standard permit conditions for energy from
waste plants also require sites to operate to high standards of
energy efficiency. They require operators to produce an annual
report on energy consumption, maintain an energy management system
which helps operators target areas for improving energy efficiency
and to design, maintain and operate the permitted installation
to secure energy efficiency.
The transition to the Environmental Permitting
Regulations has proceeded smoothly. We worked closely with Government
and the regulated community to ensure that business could proceed
as normal despite the changes. Existing operators will have experienced
very little change and we have worked hard to ensure that those
making new applications feel the benefits of this more streamlined
approach. A wide range of activities and sectors are covered by
the new regime and there continues to be provision for lower risk
activities to be exempt from the permitting requirements. We are
working with Defra on a review of the exemptions system to ensure
it provides the right level of regulatory control and Government
has recently consulted on its proposals.
We are aware that parts of the metal industry
have concerns about the costs of regulation. We work very closely
with the sector to ensure we understand their concerns and address
them wherever possible. As a result we have developed Standard
Permits for metal storage and for metal recycling that meet the
needs of the sector. Standard Permits are permits which have a
set of conditions and limits pre-established with industry. This
type of permit is simpler and cheaper to apply for and, because
they are not consulted on individually, they are likely to be
issued more quickly. The sector has welcomed our current consultation
on a Standard Permit for the dockside storage of scrap metal.
In specific response to the sector's requests we have also developed
a more proportionate system for meeting a key requirement of the
rules on the export of metal, namely the need to demonstrate that
packaging recycling is undertaken to standards that are "broadly
equivalent" to those operating in this country. We also continue
to target illegal operators who undercut legitimate business,
for instance our "Operation Scrapbook" campaign in the
Midlands tackled over 60 illegal sites.
At a recent meeting with the then Environment
Minister, Joan Ruddock, we invited the British Metal Recycling
Association to identify whether there were any other specific
issues that continue to cause difficulties for their members.
As a result we are undertaking a review of the Environment Agency
forms that metal recyclers may need to complete under different
regimes to identify what more can be done to rationalise and ease
the administrative burden. Liz Parkes meets regularly with the
sector.
You asked separately, from Rahul Sareen, for
a statement on waste exports. I have attached a statement as Annex
2 to cover this.
I hope this information is helpful. If you would
like further information, please contact us. We would be happy
to provide it.
Dr Paul Leinster CBE
Environment Agency
November 2008
Annex 1
WASTE PROTOCOLS PROJECT
1. The Waste Protocols Project is a joint
Environment Agency and WRAP initiative, in collaboration with
industry. It is a Defra-funded business resource efficiency project.
2. The project aims to achieve one of the
following outcomes:
— produce a Quality Protocol (QP) which
clearly sets out the steps that must be taken for the waste to
become a non-waste product or material that can be either reused
by business or industry, or supplied into other markets, enabling
recovered products to be used without the need for waste regulation
controls; or,
— produce a regulatory position statement,
which clearly informs the business community of what regulatory
obligations they must comply with to use the processed waste material.
3. Progress
— The Quality Protocol for the production
and use of quality compost from source-segregated biodegradable
waste was launched in May 2006. This is applicable in England
and Wales.
— In August 2007, we changed the legal
classification of steel making by-product "Blast Furnace
Slag" from waste to by-product, with clarification from the
EU, and through consultation with industry.
— We confirmed in October 2007 that
virgin timber waste, from processing virgin wood or certain waste
from woodland management, was to be de-regulated. Non-virgin,
treated or used, timber remains regulated as a waste.
— In the last six months public consultations
have been completed for anaerobic digestate from mechanical biological
treatment (MBT) processes, tyre-derived rubber materials, non-packaging
plastics, flat glass and waste vegetable oil. These materials
are currently undergoing a post consultation review phase before
a draft Quality Protocol is notified to the European Commission's
Technical Standards Committee.
— We have published a technical report
and regulatory position statement for contaminated soils. Consultations
for the remaining materials will commence over next few months.
4. Materials Summary and status
Quality Protocols
| Protocol prepared | Consultation
| Post
Consultation | Issued after ECTS
approval
|
Compost | Complete
| Complete | Protocol
Published
| Oct 08 |
Waste Cooking oil &
tallow | Complete
| Complete | |
|
| Flat glass | Complete | Complete
| Pre-ECTS
stage | Jan 09
|
| Plastics | Complete | Complete
| Pre-ECTS
stage | May 09
|
| Tyres | Complete | Complete
| Pre-ECTS
stage | |
Pulverised fuel ash
and furnace bottom
ash
| Complete | Complete |
| Oct 09 |
| Anaerobic digestion | Complete
| Complete | | Jun 09
|
| Gypsum | Draft | Oct 08
| | Dec 09 |
| Steel slag | Draft | Dec 08
| | Jan 10 |
| Paper sludge ash | Draft |
Nov 08 | | Jan 10
|
Incinerator Bottom
Ash | Drafting
| Jan 09 | | Dec 09
|
| Waste lubricating oil | Complete
| Closes shortly | | Aug 09
|
Aggregates from
capital marine
dredgings
| | Work yet to commence
|
| Uncontaminated topsoil | |
Requirements and position being reviewed
|
Regulatory Positions
Blast Furnace Slag
| Issued August 2007 |
| |
| Wood | Issued October 2007
| | |
| Contaminated Soils | Issued June 2008
| | |
| |
| | |
Annex 2
WASTE EXPORTS
THE ENVIRONMENT
AGENCY ROLE:
We are the designated authority for all notifiable international
(transboundary) shipments of non-hazardous and hazardous waste
into and out of England and Wales. These movements are covered
by the Waste Shipment Regulations.
On 12 July 2007 the revised Waste Shipment Regulations came into
force. The new rules set three different levels of control over
movements of waste, depending on what the waste is and where it
is being moved to. These are:
PROHIBITED
— The export of waste for disposal or hazardous
waste for disposal or recovery to developing countries is prohibited,
apart from some very restricted exceptions.
NOTIFIABLE
— If shipments of waste require notification then
prior written permission must be obtained from the regulatory
authorities in all concerned countries. — Shipments
of hazardous waste to OECD countries will almost always require
a notification.
— Movement of all waste to the EU countries that
have joined since 2005 will always require a notification.
— Movements of some green list (see below) wastes
to non-OECD countries may require notification.
— Around 100,000 tonnes of waste are exported to
other EU states for recovery each year under this system. These
wastes typically arise from industrial processes and have hazardous
properties. The exporter must be granted permission by us before
the waste can be exported and we have well-established systems
to process applications and to monitor these exports.
GREEN LIST
— Green list items are the low hazard "commodity"
wastes such as scrap metal or waste paper sent for recovery often
to countries such as China and other emerging economies. We do
not have authoritative figures on the scale of such exports but
interpretation of UK trade data suggests around 12 million tonnes
of waste are exported a year under these controls. — Movement
of items on the green list neither need to be prenotified nor
need prior permission before going ahead. But movement of such
items should comply with specified information and requirements.
The guidance on how to do this can be found on our website at
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/faq—1818419.pdf.
— As such, our regulatory role in green list waste
exports is essentially "passive". Exporters do not need
our permission to export these wastes and do not inform us about
them. Consequently we do not know with certainty where exports
take place from but we are expected to ensure they are being exported
for recovery in an environmentally sound fashion.
— Government have provided us with some extra funding
to target green list exports. We are using this money to carry
out intelligence-led regulatory and enforcement activity. We are
working with Government and WRAP to improve the quality of recyclables
collected to increase their value and ensure that they stay within
the legitimate market.
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