Amendments have been made to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 following consultation with the Environment Agency. The changes bring in tighter controls on the spreading of waste materials on land and amend composting licensing exemptions.
Some of the smaller community composting groups, for instance, will no longer require a licence to carry out their work, helping local authorities meet recycling targets, Defra said.
” These amendments are long overdue, so it's essential now that we keep the suite of exemptions up to date in order to encourage more reuse and recycling.“
– Elliot Morley
Environment minister Elliot Morley explained: “We wanted to revise certain exemptions to encourage genuine waste recovery, prevent abuse, allow for better enforcement, and to continue to provide protection of the environment and human health.”
Mr Morley added: “These amendments are long overdue, so it's essential now that we keep the suite of exemptions up to date in order to encourage more reuse and recycling.”
The prescriptions for mobile plants have also been amended. This will mean that mobile plants will now be able to be used in a wider range of waste management operations, Defra said, benefitting those remediating contaminated sites, including development work.
Composting
Sites that bring waste on site and then take the resultant compost to a second location are currently required to have a waste management licence. Defra said it will amend this system to allow waste material to be transported to a location for composting and to another location for use.
Although community composting groups will have to pay for this exemption, the costs will be banded to ensure that smaller sites pay a “lesser and affordable charge”, with larger sites paying more, Defra said. Large sites will still be required to hold a waste management licence. Sites composting less than five tonnes of waste at any one time will not be required to pay a charge.
Mr Morley said: “Increasing the amount of organic waste composted is one of our key objectives; as such we want to encourage the growth of the community composting sector. This new exemption should do just that.”
Land treatment
Defra has tightened exemption rules for wastes such as paper sludge, food industry wastes and lime, which are spread on land. The Department said inappropriate application may lead to soil contamination, water pollution and deterioration of soil structure.
Mr Morley said: “Tighter controls on the waste being spread on to land will help the Environment Agency regulate such activity, and ensure that only useful and safe waste types are spread to land.”
Exemptions for the reclamation and improvement of land have been subject to allegations of abuse, Defra said. They may have been used to landfill waste without paying Landfill Tax at bone fide landfill sites. The government has modified exemption rules with clearer specification on the types of waste permitted and a depth limit of two metres.
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Mr Morley said: “The revisions in this area will provide a level playing field for operators and ensure that only ecologically or agriculturally beneficial material is spread.”
Other changes bring in new restrictions on the treatment of sewage sludge and allows port authorities more flexibility to burn wooden packaging material used on boats in order to prevent the introduction of pests and diseases.
Further review
The government is still consulting on two other sets of amendments to the 1994 regulations, one involving exemptions for hazardous waste and one involving agricultural waste.
There will be a wider review of waste management licence exemptions beginning in 2006, with Mr Morley explaining: “We now want to consider whether they can be extended further to assist low-risk waste recovery activities and the development of new technologies.”
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