Long-awaited Schedule 2 changes to come into force

Long-awaited changes to the Controlled Waste Regulations which will potentially save councils millions of pounds in waste disposal costs are set to come into force next week.

The revised Controlled Waste Regulations 2012 were laid before parliament on Thursday, March 15 and will come into force in England and Wales on Friday April 6. They will give local authorities the power to charge for disposing of waste from non-domestic premises such as prisons, camp sites and hospitals, which are listed under Schedule 2 of the regulations. At present, local authorities are obligated to collect waste from these premises when requested but can only make a charge for collection and not disposal.

The changes are likely to be welcomed by councils who have been lobbying for years for changes to the regulations, which currently leave them open to potentially having to pay millions of pounds in disposal costs which they have not historically had to pay.

According to a report published in December 2009, disposing of all the Schedule 2 waste which is not currently in the domestic waste stream could potentially cost councils in England and Wales up to 32 million extra a year (see letsrecycle.com story).

But, there are a few notable exceptions in the revised regulations which are likely to prove less popular amongst local authorities. For instance, councils in England will still have to cover the waste disposal costs for small businesses becauseDefra is keen to protect them. And, charity shops and re-use organisations in both England and Wales will continue to be offered free disposal.

Consultation

The laying of the revised regulations follows a consultation launched in November 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story). Alongside the revised regulations, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Welsh Government have also published a summary of responses and government response to the consultation.

Commenting on the laying of the regulations, the Local Government Association, which represents local authorities,said: This change responds to ongoing lobbying from LGA and others for an amendment that recognises that disposal costs have risen in recent years and the charge of these premises has not reflected the full costs which has in effect been increasingly subsidised by local taxpayers.

In summary the revised regulations allow waste collection authorities to charge for disposal from premises including:

• Camp sites and self catering accommodation
• Royal Palaces
• Non-clinical waste from GP surgeries
• Charities
• Educational establishments
• Hospitals or nursing homes (not including those providing residential accommodation)
• Penal institutions

Exemptions

The following premises will be exempt from the changes:

• Small businesses currently benefiting from free waste disposal and eligible for Small Business Rate relief. This exemption only appliesin England .
• Charity shops and reuse organisations (excluding commercial re-use businesses) where the waste being handled originates from the household
• Publicly-funded schools and further education (FE) colleges which currently benefit from free waste disposal. This exemption only appliesin England
• Premises used wholly or mainly for public meetings

Small businesses

Defra explained in its response to the consultation that it had chosen to exempt small businesses because since embarking on the review of this legislation, the Coalition Government has made clear its commitment to support small business and to improve the competitiveness of domestic tourism in particular.

It added that the change was designed to primarily support self-catering accommodation, small campsite and caravan parks and thereby protect domestic tourism.

However, the Welsh Government has decided not to exempt small businesses as it maintains that all businesses should be treated the same.

Schools and FE colleges

With regards to schools and further education colleges, Defra said that its original planned to give councils the power to charge all of them for waste disposal, but that it had changed its position after there had been difficulty in reaching agreement in how to put this into practice.

Deciphering the range of existing waste management practice and funding arrangements for schools and Further Education Colleges has been more challenging than anticipated, it said, adding that our intention is to legislate to support an interim position, reflecting existing practice.

The Department said that it remained its position that schools and FE colleges should have responsibility for the cost of their waste management in the long term and that this aspect of the legislation would therefore be reviewed in April 2015, ahead of the next Spending Review.

In Wales, however, all schools and FE colleges will be expected to pay for waste disposal.

Charity shops

In the consultation, the proposal which received most opposition was that of keeping free disposal for charity shops and re-use organisations with only 31% of respondents agreeing with the plans (see letsrecycle.com story). While Defra acknowledged that this was an unpopular move, it said that the organisations play a crucial role in facilitating re-use and diverting used goods away from the waste stream which would otherwise have been discarded as domestic waste.

It concluded: We therefore continue to believe that it is not appropriate for charity shops and re-use organisations to pay for the disposal of waste which originated in domestic properties. In response to concerns about a possible subsidy to commercial re-use businesses, we have amended the definition to restrict free waste disposal to charities, community interest companies and not-for-profit organisations.