Organics recyclers attack “devastating” permitting plans

In its response to the Environment Agency's September 2009 consultation on proposed permitting charges for 2010/11 (see letsrecycle.com story), which closed yesterday (December 16), the trade body also claimed that the proposed charges could even mean some smaller operators send material to landfill rather than pay for a permit to spread it to land.

AfOR said it had “significant concern” in relation to small composters who currently operate under a paragraph 12 exemption – allowing 1,000 cubic metres of waste to be composted at the place it was produced or spread.

It claimed that the step from the free exemption to making these sites apply for the new standard permit no 19, which would cost