Outrage as EA postpones compost permit deadline

In the past, many small composting operations were carried out under a freeexemption. But, after new permitting rules came into force in April 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story) a number of previously exempt activities were required to apply for an environmental permit, which they have to pay for. Operators were given until until October 1 2011 to comply.

But, just three days ahead of this date (September 28), the Agency postponed this deadline and issued a new regulatory position statement saying that it would not enforce the change until April 30 2012. This means that operators effectively have another six months to bring their sites up to the higher standards required under the permitting regime. For instance, unlike exempt sites, permitted sites are required to have hardstanding, drainage and storage for leachate.

Jeremy Jacobs, from the Association for Organics Recycling (AfOR), said he understood the deadline had been postponed because the change from exemptions to permits was likely to result in significant hardship for a number of operators.

However, he said that operators who had taken the time and money to comply with the new regime within the original timetable would be potentially commercially disadvantaged, because they would have higher overheads than those sites which had not complied and need to charge higher gate fees.

Mr Jacobs told letsrecycle.com: It appears that once again professional operators have behaved responsibly to develop and invest in compliant infrastructure within EA stated timescales only to find the goal posts moved 48 hours before the deadline and therefore been commercially disadvantaged as a result.

Viridor

Mr Jacobs concerns were echoed by Bill Griffiths, national organics and recycling manager for waste management company Viridor, who said he was disappointed by the last-minute extension.

Mr Griffiths said that Viridor had invested much time, effort and money in the last two years to bring its small scale, on-farm composters up to speed with the new permitting requirements which were due to come into force on October 1.

In a number of cases, on-farm sites have been shut down because they either did not meet the requirements of a Standard Permit or were too small scale to be viable to operate under an Environmental Permit, he explained.

This has led to loss of revenue for these composters and increased costs for Viridor through diverting green waste over a greater distance to permitted compost sites with full Environmental controls and regulatory responsibilities.

The EA has potentially created a discrepancy in gate fees and unfair competition during this extended transition period between those composters operating with, and those operating without, an environmental permit.

Another composter, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was outraged by the delay.

He said: Many sites have closed and companies now out of pocket for doing things properly compared to those who did not.

Environment Agency

In its regulatory statement, the Environment Agency explained that a significant number of composting operations were likely to be disproportionately affected by the change from exemptions to permits as they may not be able to meet the terms of existing and proposed standard rule permits because of their location. As such, they would have to apply for a more expensive, bespoke permit.

Rob Wheadon, technical advisor at the Environment Agency, told letsrecycle.com that there were potentially 534 exempt composters due to come into permitting this October.

Explaining the reason for pushing back the date by which formerly exempt sites had to apply for a permit, he said: We realised during the application window that far fewer operators than expected would be eligible for a standard permit. This means that operators would have to apply for a bespoke permit, which is more complex and expensive.

We have extended the deadline to apply for permits in order to consider ways to make this process simpler for operators.

We have only received a small number of applications for a permit from exempt composters to date. Those will be given the option of having their application held until next April or returned together with the fee.