Earlier this week (see letsrecycle.com story) the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency announced what is in effect a crackdown on exemptions rather than permits, largely due to concerns that they were being abused by wate criminals. The changes apply to England and will also be applied in Wales via the Welsh regulator NRW.
Wood
Responding to the exemption changes, the Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) has welcomed them. It noted what the changes meant for wood: “The changes include new exemption conditions for the sorting, chipping, shredding, compacting, cutting and storage of waste wood and waste plant matter, including limiting the total quantity of waste accepted to less than 5,000 tonnes per year.”
Other conditions include a maximum acceptance of 100 tonnes per week, storage up to three months and a maximum pile height of 4 metres, the WRA noted.
WRA executive director, Julia Turner, said: “We welcome these moves to reduce crime and poor performance at waste sites. This will make it much more difficult for waste criminals to take advantage of the light touch regulation associated with the exemptions regime and help to drive up operating standards.”
Veolia concern
Giving a view from the waste management industry, Gavin Graveson, Veolia senior executive vice president northern europe zone, expressed concern that more funding should be allocated to catching waste criminals.
Mr Graveson said: “Whilst we welcome today’s measures which are definitely a step in the right direction in the fight against waste crime, the government must be prepared to give not only more powers but more money to those enforcing the rules.”
He continued: “Overall this is a £1 billion illegal industry and only a fraction of what’s needed is being allocated to bring these criminals to justice, when every pound spent on stopping waste crime brings an immediate return on investment.”
Guidance updates
Yesterday (9 February) the Environment Agency published various specific guidance update information including on, for example, ‘T4 waste exemption: preparatory treatments, such as, baling, sorting, shredding’.
The document explains that a T4 exemption allows for the treating of waste to reduce its volume for transport to another site for reuse, recycling or to make handling easier. Changes to the exemptions will start to roll out during 2024 and continue into 2025 but timescales have not been finalised yet, the Agency says.
Exemption changes annex
The annex of exemption changes HERE is likely to be of interest to the waste management sector. It shows current practice rules contrasted with the future changes to limits and activities.
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