Fine detail is still to emerge although the consultation paper, which closed in September 2004, summarising what is proposed can be seen on the Defra website at Clean-neighbourhood
The document covered a range of topics – some of the key points are summarised below. The final bill could well see changes to what was proposed in the document:
Businesses
The measures would give local authorities and the Environment Agency the power to issue fixed penalty notices to businesses that fail to produce waste transfer notes and to keep the receipts from such penalties.
The Environment Agency and local authorities already have the power to inspect businesses’ waste transfer notes to check that they have passed their waste to an ‘authorised person’ (e.g. a waste carrier or another lawful source of waste disposal). This measure would give the enforcing bodies the additional power to issue fixed penalty notices to those businesses that breach their duty of care (as set out in section 34 of EPA 1990 and subsequent regulations), by failing to produce valid waste transfer notes.
Waste carriers
It is proposed to give local authorities and the Environment Agency the power to issue fixed penalty notices to waste carriers that fail to produce their registration details or evidence they do not need to be registered, and to keep the receipts from such penalties. Under section 6 of the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989, the Environment Agency and local authorities have the power to stop and search vehicles suspected of being used for fly-tipping (a police officer must be present to stop a vehicle on the road).
This measure would give the enforcing bodies the additional power to issue fixed penalty notices to those waste carriers that fail to comply with the requirements (as set out in the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 and subsequent regulations) to produce registration details or evidence that they do not need to be registered (for example, charities or voluntary organisations).
Illegal disposal
This measure would introduce a new offence and clear-up provisions for dealing with the illegal disposal of waste, notably covering flytipping.
Section 33 of EPA 1990 is the current offence provision covering the illegal disposal of waste. Section 59 sets out powers for removing such waste and recovering costs, subject to certain conditions. In Defra’s fly-tipping strategy, which was published for consultation in February 2004, several proposals were made with the aim of making the offence provision a greater deterrent against committing an offence and to bring irresponsible landowners within the remit of the legislation.
Site plans
Introduce a new requirement for Site Waste Management Plans covering developers and contractors.
This would give the Secretary of State the power to issue a statutory code of practice to require developers and contractors to produce a written Site Waste Management Plan for all construction projects above the value of 200,000. The plan would need to identify the volume and type of material to be demolished and/or excavated and would need to demonstrate how off-site disposal of wastes would be minimised and managed. Production of these plans would improve regulatory compliance, encourage re-use and recycling, and reduce levels of illegal disposal.
The statutory code of practice would be subject to full public consultation. Site Waste Management Plans would also be trialled for one year before the code of practice was issued.
Waste collection authorities and the Environment Agency would have powers to request Site Waste Management Plans and it would be an offence not to have one with fines on the same level as the duty of care regime.
Vehicles
Introduce a more effective system for stop, search and seizure of vehicles
Current provisions under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 and the Controlled Waste (Registration of Carriers and Seizure of Vehicles) Regulations 1991 would be replaced with a more effective and usable system.
Officers of the Environment Agency or a waste collection authority would be given powers to instantly seize a vehicle involved in fly-tipping and impound it for the purposes of taking further evidence, which may involve prosecution action. The officer would be empowered to seize a vehicle and any property without need for assistance from a police constable, but a constable would still be needed to stop a vehicle on a road. The current legislation setting out the procedures for returning or disposing of seized property would also be replaced with more simple and effective arrangements.
Waste carriers
Introduce a new provision covering duty of care and registration of waste carriers
Legislation setting out the requirement for waste carriers to be registered is currently contained within the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 and subsequent regulations. Legislation on the duty of care etc. with respect to waste is contained in section 34 of EPA 1990 and subsequent regulations. This measure would introduce an enabling power that would enable the Secretary of State to make new regulations covering the registration of waste carriers and the duty of care.
Recycling credits
This measure would see a revised scheme for recycling credits which involves payments to third parties for the re-use and recycling of waste. There has been a separate consultation on this.
It is also suggested that there is a revision of the recycling credit system to allow for the introduction of a tonnage-based levy as a default charging system for Joint Waste Disposal Authorities.
These authorities are currently funded by a levy on their constituent authorities that is apportioned by unanimous agreement or, in the absence of this, based on the Council Tax base of each authority. Changing the default to a tonnage basis or introducing similar charge based arrangements has been proposed to replace the current arrangements. The introduction of either of these would effectively create a double benefit for constituent authorities which would, under the present recycling credits system, receive credits in addition to savings made in their levy or charges by reducing the volume of waste delivered to the JWDA for disposal.
Divestment provision
This measure involves the repeal of the divestment provisions for waste disposal functions.
Under the duty of Best Value, the paper stated that local authorities are expected to deliver their waste management services “by the most effective, economic and efficient means available, taking into account local circumstances and in consultation with local stakeholders. This approach is key to delivering the challenging Statutory Performance Standards for household waste recycling that have been set for local authorities for 2005/06, and the legally binding EU Landfill Directive targets set for 2010, 2013 and 2020.”
It added that the government is committed to repealing the divestment provisions in EPA 1990. “The repeal will help to encourage and facilitate partnerships between two or more authorities and between authorities and the private sector. It will increase the range of procurement options open to local authorities, including making it easier to use the Private Finance Initiative route, and facilitate a more strategic approach by authorities to long-term planning and procurement.”
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