The call comes in the Agency’s response to the government’s consultation paper
on the Directive with the Agency sounding alarm bells over its limited resources and a
Directive which leaves “much open to interpretation, creating scope for inefficiencies for both
regulators and industry”.
Responding this week to a joint consultation paper on the Directive from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the National Assembly for Wales, the Agency says the directive is
important and has the potential to “impact significantly on operators, the Agency and the
national economy as a whole.”
The Agency also sounds a strong warning that planning delays could mean there
will not be enough facilities – presumably materials recycling facilities, composting plants and
energy from waste facilities – to take in the waste diverted from landfill. Couching its thoughts
rather politely on this point, it states: “This is likely to be challenging and the Agency
seeks government encouragement to all relevant parties to achieve this”.
It recommends that existing landfills should be required to comply with the Directive
obligations as soon as possible, taking 2009 as the latest acceptable date, rather than the
target date. Furthermore, the Agency urges that hazardous waste landfill sites should be
dealt with first, on a risk basis. “Therefore we believe that stating the date of 2009 in Annex
A for permitting requirements is unhelpful and potentially misleading for operators.”
Support is given by the Agency for the government’s proposal to transfer landfills
into the PPC (pollution prevention and control) regime. “This will improve consistency of
regulation and standards of landfill operation, and is likely to promote a more transparent and
understandable regime for industry and the public.”
Concerns are aired by the agency about its workload. The Agency response notes
that it will face considerable additional works as a result of the Directive requirements, in
particular for the existing 2,500 landfill sites in England and Wales.
Difficult decisions
Because the Agency will also have to deal with other duties including Birds and
Habitats and the End-of-Life Vehicles directives, and new controls on agricultural waste, it
says that some difficult decisions on which work to prioritise will have to be made in 2001/02
to accommodate the new Landfill Directive requirements.
The Agency comments, which are available in full on its website at
Agency: landfill, also identify agricultural waste as a key issue. The Agency
disagrees with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions which states
that the definition of waste in the Directive is consistent with current UK legislation. The
Agency states: “we disagree with this view as agricultural waste is currently not included in
the UK definition of controlled waste.”
The Agency also wants clarification from DETR over “farm dumps” and other activities involving the disposal of non-natural agricultural waste
to landfill being regarded as existing landfills under the Directive.
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