Agency tightens rules on storing waste wood at docks

A significant tightening of the rules governing the storage of chipped waste wood at the dockside is set to come into force in May in a move which some recyclers fear coulddamage the export market.

The Environment Agency has issued a regulatory position statement entitled The short term storage of chipped wood waste for fuel at the dockside in which it explains that from May 14, it will no longer consider the activity low risk.

Instead, operators must meet a list of requirements for the storage to be permitted, as set out in the regulatory statement. These include: Ensuring the wood is stored inside a secured and sealed container or inside a building; that it is stored for no longer than three months and, the amount stored at any one time does not exceed 8,000 tonnes. The full list can be found here.

The changes follow a significant increase in the amount of waste wood exported for use as a fuel to Europe over the last few years and what the Agency said was evidence of unacceptable impacts on amenity (dust) and risk of fire at some poorly managed sites.

The Agency said: Poorly managed storage of chipped wood can cause a risk to the environment through dust and particulate emissions, contaminated run-off and risk of fire. As a result, there is a need to ensure that the controls placed upon its storage, pending export or import, are sufficient to minimise these risks.

Costs

However, wood recyclers fear that the move will simply introduce more red tape and costs to the industry and that operators are being punished for the actions of a few.

Clem Spencer, managing director of Wood Yew Waste in Devon, said the guidance could potentially be devastating to some companies particularly those which did not have containers of buildings in which to store their waste wood.

He said: I think this is going to be quite devastating for some people as you only have to go to the docks at Tilbury or Ridham to seethousands of tonnesstored on the dock ready to go. We can see companies having to make big investments on land they rent and dont own.

This will have big implications for a lot of people. If you cant store on the docks it will be a major problem.

Mr Spencer said his company was preparing to start exporting material out of Plymouth but that it had a big covered store on the docks and its site was located nearby, meaning that it shoudl not be adversely affected.

Onerous

Another wood recycler based in the Midlands said the requirement for containing the material in containers or buildings would be particularly onerous: It will not be cost-effective if it has to go in containers we might as well ship it by road in that case. Or we will have to build purpose-built buildings.

There is set to be a few new power plants coming online soon in the UK and the export market will suffer on two sides.

Peter Butt, secretary of the Wood Recyclers Association the trade association for the wood recycling sector said that he was currently compiling feedback from members and did not wish to pre-empt their reaction to the guidance.

However, he stressed that exports last year accounted for around two thirds of a million tonnes of recovered waste wood so we are talking about a big issue.

He said: This looks like a significant hardening of the rules. I am surprised there was not prior consultation and I have said that to the Environment Agency.