Recently Defra began consulting on the Waste (England and Wales)
Regulations 2010. These Regulations bring the revised EU Waste
Framework Directive (WFD) into effect and should be in force by
December of this year.
Much of the revised WFD is the same as the existing one. However,
there are some key differences, two of which are outlined
below:
The waste hierarchy – this will have to
be given legal effect as a priority order. It is proposed that this
will be achieved by:
- requiring local authorities to have regard to the hierarchy in the preparation of waste plans;
- including a condition in new or revised Environmental Permits which places a duty on the permit holder to minimise and treat waste in accordance with the hierarchy;
- including a new declaration on Waste Transfer Notes confirming
that those producing, holding and carrying the waste have taken the
hierarchy into account.
Separate Collections – under the
draft Regulations local authorities and private waste companies
collecting waste from commercial or industrial premises will be
required, by 1 January 2015, to offer separate collections of
paper, metal, plastic and glass. It is proposed that civil
sanctions are to be put in place to enforce this regime. This would
result in fixed and variable financial penalties for those who fail
to comply with this requirement. An alternative proposal is to
authorise regulators to revoke the waste carriers licences of those
companies that fail to comply.
On the face of it, this appears to be a very substantial change.
However, the term 'Separate Collection' is to an extent
something of a misnomer. Separate collection is defined to include
co-mingled collection of waste streams intended for recycling
together with each other but separate from other waste. Defra has
been given confirmation by the European Commission that both
kerbside sorted and co-mingled collection of recyclable waste (not
mixed with other non-recyclable waste), with subsequent separation
of recyclable waste by type or nature at a Materials Recycling
Facility so as to facilitate specific treatment, can qualify as
separate collections. That separate collection includes this
limited form of co-mingled collection is reflected in the draft
Regulations. But that is subject to the overriding requirement of
meeting the quality standards necessary for recycling and it is
possible that waste companies may not be able to continue to permit
co-mingled collection of paper, metal, plastic and glass if that
poses too great a risk of contamination of recyclable waste.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
