Notified waste involves the movements of certain wastes to certain destinations which are subject to stricter notification controls (see: Importing and exporting waste).
Explaining its rationale for the planned consultation, in a statement the Agency said it has an “obligation to recover the costs of our regulatory activities through charges to our customers. We review our schemes regularly and consult with the public whenever we make changes.”
An online webinar is being held on 26 May to discuss the consultation (see details below).
The Agency went on to say that charges for regulating waste shipment notifications have not been increased for more than ten years.
‘Rising costs’
It declared: “However, rising costs mean it is now difficult to properly fund our compliance activity, and customers have experienced delays in processing their notifications as a result. We are therefore reviewing our charges to make sure we have appropriate resource and to improve the quality of the service we provide.”
Explaining some of the thinking behind the review of charges, the Agency spoke of change in the waste sector since the current charging scheme was introduced in 2007. “We want to make sure that our customers are paying the right amount for the work we do for their notification. To do this, we want to make some changes to reflect that some types of waste shipments cost more to regulate than others.”
Consultation contents
To make sure our charges are “a fair reflection of the work we do”, the Agency said it will be consulting on:
1. Introducing new charges for anyone sending over 1,000 shipments under a notification. This will make sure we recover our costs for notifications for very large numbers of shipments.
2. Replacing the existing band for notifications for 101-500 shipments with two smaller bands for 101-300 and 301-500 shipments. This will mean we can better reflect the different costs associated with higher numbers of shipments.
3. Removing the extra charges in our scheme for notifications which involve an ‘interim site.’ This will make the scheme simpler for customers to understand and reflect changes in the way we regulate these notifications.
4. Reflecting the extra costs that arise when shipments are made up of multiple containers or lorries.
5. Changing our policy on refunds. We propose that refund requests need to be made before the Environment Agency transmits your application to the overseas authorities.
6. Charging customers for any changes to a notification after we transmit it to overseas authorities. We currently make some changes without charge, which does not reflect the costs of making these changes.
7. Additional charge for any notification that includes mercury, ozone-depleting substances (ODS), fluorinated gases (F-gases) or Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM). These waste types are particularly complicated and require additional work to regulate.
8. Charging for the work required to assess applications for ‘pre-consented’ status for facilities in England. We do not currently charge for this work.
9. Different charges for applications for end-of-life ships, platforms, and fixed oil rigs. Regulating these waste types is very complex and they pose a significant environmental risk. The cost is therefore much higher than for other waste types.
Online webinar
Waste management businesses which might be affected by these changes are being invited by the Environment Agency to attend an online webinar: “Consultation on notified waste charges: An introduction” on 26 May 2023 from 13:30-14:30 (BST).
To attend, register for the session by 24 May 2023 using this form: https://forms.office.com/e/eq5qxFjuJv
Information is available by email at: wasteshipmentreforms@environment-agency.gov.uk
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