Agency reveals views on regulation of MBT outputs

In new summary guidance issued this week the Agency defines when MBT outputs cease to be “waste” and when they are subject to controls including waste management licensing and pollution prevention and control permitting.

MBT – the treatment of mixed or residual municipal waste by a combination of physical/mechanical separation techniques and biological or composting processes – is generally seen as a pre-treatment process for waste.

After MBT has occurred, there may be materials like glass and metals removed for recycling, but there will also be a stabilised fraction suitable for energy recovery, landfill restoration or as a low-grade compost.

Recovered
The Agency stresses in its guidance that a waste material ceases to be subject to waste controls “once it has been fully recovered”. Pre-processing, mixing or other operations may be part of a recovery operation, but may not necessarily be enough to render MBT outputs “non-waste”.

It says all MBT outputs are waste before recovery/recycling has taken place, and any processing or treatment of them must be carried out with relevant waste management licences and pollution prevention and control permits, unless covered by a registered exemption.

What the guidance does not include is whether a land use planning consent is required for certain activities involved with MBT outputs, nor whether animal by-product regulations apply. It also does not cover whether the standard or lower rate (for inert material) of Landfill Tax applies to the outputs – the Agency said this was a matter for HM Revenue & Customs – and the legislation on exporting MBT outputs.

Waste definition
In terms of when the outputs become non-waste, the Agency explained:

• Metals – Ferrous and non-ferrous metal outputs from MBT will cease to be waste when formed into ingots, sheets or coils of metal;
• Glass – Generally ceases to be a waste when made into glass containers, fibreglass, fine glass products, aggregates ready for use, decorative crushed glass ready for sale.
• Refuse derived fuel (RDF) – is waste, and remains waste until it is burned as fuel. Installations burning RDF must also comply with Waste Incineration Directive.
• Liquid digestate (from anaerobic digestion) – ceases to be a waste when spread on land to confer agricultural benefit or ecological improvement.
• Fine, solid fraction – also ceases to be a waste when spread on land, providing it provides agricultural/ecological benefit. But, the Agency adds that the fine solid fraction from an MBT plant requires further recovery and is considered to be a waste for regulatory purposes. Composts from organic material that has not been separated at source “will only have a few end uses that will depend on the quality of this fraction”, the Agency added.

Exemptions
Spreading MBT outputs on land will only be exempt from the need for a waste management licence if the operator demonstrates that it produces agricultural benefit and/or results in ecological improvement, the Agency said.

It goes on to say that it is “unlikely that outputs from an MBT process will be suitable for spreading on agricultural land that is used for food production or for grazing animals”.

However, the guidance is not entirely clear, and suggests that under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations, wastes applied to land must be derived from source segregated wastes, which would mean “outputs from an MBT process will not be suitable for spreading on agricultural land under this exemption”.

The use of MBT outputs as compost for landfill restoration under an exemption “will only be acceptable where the material does not cause harm to human health or pollution of the environment”, the Agency says. This material must also result in a “benefit” to agriculture or ecological improvement, it adds – if no benefits are seen in the spreading, the Agency will regard it as a disposal activity.

There are also certain limits in the amount of waste that can be spread outlined in the guidance, for example 20,000 cubic metres per hectare.

LATS
MBT outputs that go to landfill are “generally non-hazardous waste and can be landfilled at a suitable non-hazardous landfill site”, the Agency says. But, it warns that any biodegradable waste that is landfilled will count against disposal authorities' landfill allowances, under Defra's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme.

The Agency adds that while MBT outputs may not meet the specifications for landfill engineering, “suitably stabilised waste from MBT processes” may be used for landfill cover or in landfill restoration. This, provided it has “no noticeable odour, is not attractive to rodents, flies or birds” and it complies with licence, permit, or land-use planning conditions.

The Environment Agency guidance is to be made available soon on the Agency's website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk.