Published today by the Department for Business, the document suggests a harder line will be taken on how the UK implements EU waste legislation – suggesting there is a ‘common theme’ among its consultation responses that the Directives put UK waste businesses at a disadvantage compared to competitors in other Member States.
The document, ‘Cutting Red Tape: Review of the waste and recycling sector’, was overseen by ministers Matthew Hancock and Rory Stewart, as part of a wider initiative to identify savings of £10 billion by cutting regulations (see letsrecycle.com story).
Cutting Red Tape reveals that a number of respondents questioned why the review was taking place at a time when they felt the Agency should be enforcing its current regulatory framework to protect legitimate waste businesses.
The government says in the document that all those who responded to the original consultation also raised issues around the impact, enforcement and operation of the current regime – showing that there is scope to change regulation and allow businesses to ‘grow and innovate’.
It also suggested that while it understands the importance of the work carried out by regulators, the government believes operators who demonstrate ‘good, compliant’ behaviour should benefit from the principle of ‘earned recognition’.
On the definition of waste for instance, respondents suggested that the definition of certain materials as waste creates ‘additional burdens’. As a result, Defra is set to amend domestic guidance to revise and clarify the definition of ‘waste’ and ‘by-products’ by March 2017 – which will encourage recycling and free certain materials from waste controls altogether.
Compliance
Elsewhere, the government states that many in the sector find the Producer Responsibility Regulations for packaging and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as ‘overly burdensome, complex and costly’.
As a consequence this area of the industry could see significant intervention, with government to build on simplifying the accreditation process, simplifying the application process and reducing the burden of sampling and inspection by July 2016.
On WEEE, some respondents claimed that changes made by BIS to the regulations in 2013 ‘could have gone further’ by introducing a system of matching producer compliance schemes to collectors. This they suggested would bridge the cost gap between buying evidence of WEEE recycling and the actual costs of collecting and treating the material. A review of the WEEE system is promised by 2019.
PRNs
And, Defra will also seek further balance in the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) system by increasing ‘transparency and reducing price volatility’. The issue centres around concerns from some in the sector that export PRNs are of the same value as domestic PRNs yet it is easier to include non-eligible material in the export grades (e.g. critics say for example that bales of plastic bottles exported can contain only 90% plastic bottles).
The move is likely to be popular with domestic reprocessors, who have long lobbied for a ‘level playing field’ to compete with the packaging export recovery note (PERN) market.
Fire
The upcoming revised Fire Prevention Plans also came under flak from some respondents who mentioned there was an amount of ‘overlap and duplication’ with existing requirements from the Health & Safety Executive and the Environment Agency as well as those placed on businesses by insurance companies.
Some in the sector also claimed that there has not been proper consultation on the plans while others raised concerns that cutting ‘red tape’ in this area may actually increase the risk of fires.
EU
Echoing the concerns raised by Mr Stewart at a meeting of the Environment Council in Brussels on Friday (March 4), the review also steps up the rhetoric in its assessment of the impact from EU legislation on UK waste law.
The review states: “The government accepts and understands the frustrations that businesses feel about how the interpretation of EU Directives in UK law means that there is little or no flexibility in how they are complied with and therefore puts UK businesses at a disadvantage compared to competitors in other member states.”
It adds: “Separately the government is also considering the wider interpretation of EU Directives into UK law and the findings from this review will help inform part of that process.”
Related link
Cutting Red Tape: Review of the waste and recycling sector (opens as PDF)
Register for free to comment