1. This year, Lancashire CRN’s Annual Conference is All About You..!
Uncomplicating Legislation and Compliance
Sarah Henderson
Environment Agency
Tuesday 14th February 2012 | Leyland

3. Uncomplicating Legislation and Compliance
Name Sarah Henderson
Job title Senior Environment Officer
Date 14 February 2012

4. Waste Management – Your Duty
A brief look at:
Definition of Waste
Duty of Care
Permits and Exemptions
Additional Requirements

5. Waste Legislation – there’s lots!
So please ask us for advice!
Or look at:
NCCC:
The first thing you need to know about waste legislation is that there is a lot of it! And, therefore, unless you have had a lot to do with it in the past and have been keeping up to date with new regulations as they come in, you’re really best off asking us for advice. So right up front here I’ve put down some useful websites you can try looking at and our national customer contact telephone number. I’ll even give you my direct line number, if you ask me for it!

6. Is it waste?
“waste is any substance or object that the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard”
What about Recovered Materials?
“ Once a substance or object has become waste it will remain waste until it has been fully recovered and no longer poses a potential threat to the environment”
Firstly the definition of waste in the legislation is that it is “…any substance or object which the holder discards, intends or is required to discard” and discard has a special meaning.
The trouble is, that definition is quite broad and case law on the subject of when a waste can cease to be waste has broadened it further still by ruling that “once a substance or object has become waste it will remain waste until it has been fully recovered”.
I would suggest that if you are in any doubt at all you are best assuming that the materials IS waste but you can always give us a ring for advice!
Recovery:
Well, as I said the definition is broad and once a substance or object has become waste it will remain waste in the eyes of the law until is has been “fully recovered” – and what is “fully recovered” is again the subject of much discussion and case law!
For your purposes, recovery would be at point of sale, or when an item is fully refurbished and put on sale again.
Regulatory Position Statements

7. Duty Of Care You MUST: Stop waste escaping
Only transfer waste to an authorised person
Ensure a written description of the waste is provided on transfer
On transfer of waste complete, and keep a copy of, a Waste Transfer Note
Whatever you are doing with your waste the regulation that always applies to you is the Duty of Care. This has been around since 1992 so I hope you are already familiar with it but, to re-cap, the Duty of Care says that:
firstly you must ensure waste is prevented from escaping from your control (that is – you must store it and transport it appropriately without litter flying everywhere or mud dripping onto the road or whatever).
Secondly, you must only transfer waste to someone else who is authorised to take it – that would generally be a registered waste carrier (and you can check up if they are registered by looking at the public register on our website or ringing us up) or, if you were taking it to a site, the holder of an environmental permit (what used to be called a waste management licence) or a registered exemption.
Thirdly, when you hand waste over to someone else you have to ensure you also hand them a written description of the waste so that they know how to deal properly with it.
And fourthly, when you transfer it you and the party you are transferring it to need to complete and sign, and keep a copy of, a Waste Transfer Note.

8. Transporting Waste Register as Waste Carrier
If you are carrying controlled wastes as part of your business or for profit AND
Are normally and regularly carrying waste.
Lower tier: ‘Specified Persons’ – Charity or voluntary organisation.
Upper tier: Everyone else, except producers of waste.
If you had a contractor who generally collected the waste and on an occasion he could not do it, so you needed to – not considered ‘normally and regularly’. But be prepared to provide evidence that this is the case!
The new regulations I just referred to also make some changes to the Carrier Registration system and you may hear the “two tiers of carrier registration” referred to now. The change is to take account of producers having to register to carry their own waste from Dec They will be lower tier.
Lower Tier: for previously ‘exempt’ registrants. It is free and indefinate. If you are already registered you need do nothing.
Upper tier: All other waste carriers, brokers and dealers. Has 3 years renewal and it is charged.

9. Transporting Waste Waste Transfer Notes
Not required for collection from Domestic Premises, from a householder.
Since October 2011:
Declaration of Waste Hierarchy application
SIC code:
38320 – Recovery of sorted materials
Copies must be held for two years.
Domestic Premises, but all other times requires a WTN if you are not the producer.
New Regs require a declaration of waste heirachy and a ‘Standard Industry Code’
Seasonal tickets can still be used (Waste Carrier, Producer or collection premises and description of waste remains same) until they are completed – usually annual so would expect them to be finished by now.
Copies held for two years and must be produced if requested by an Environment Agency representative.
Unlimited fine for transferring waste to an unauthorised person.

10. Hazardous Waste Registration
If you produce or hold > 500 kgs hazardous waste at a site in any year you must register the site as a producer
Registration lasts for 12 months
Transport will require a Consignment Note
If you produce or manage any hazardous waste then this also brings with it a whole lot of other regulations you must comply with. If you produce more than 500 kgs of hazardous waste on a site in any year then you must register as a hazardous waste producer for that site. This registration only lasts for 12 months (so don’t get it mixed up with your carrier registration that lasts for 3 years).
It’s pretty easy to register and you can do it electronically or by post and the cost varies depending on how you do it. Electronic registration is simplest for us hence it is cheapest, and it only costs £ 18. The cost of hazardous waste producer registration by phone is £23 and by post is £28. If you are registering in bulk, that is 6 or more sites at one time then it costs £18 for each.
if you are transporting and transferring hazardous waste you nearly always need a Hazardous Waste Consignment Note to accompany it. The consignment note also acts as your waste transfer note but it has alot of other details relating to the waste description, including hazard codes that apply to the waste. It is also required to accompany the waste right through from the producer to its end point (as opposed to transfer notes that only have to relate to a single transfer between two parties). 10

11. Storing and Treating
EPR 2010: Permit or Exemption for sites keeping, treating or disposing of waste (Note: storing on the place of production is ok)
Permits for higher risk activities
Standard and Bespoke Permits
Technical competence
Fees
Record keeping
Surrender
Unless what you are doing falls within one of the exemptions you will need a permit for storing, treating or disposing waste.
You need to be aware that with a permit comes a whole bunch of responsibilities and costs. For example, to get a permit you must have someone who is technically competent to manage that permitted waste management activity. You have to pay annual subsistence charge, keep and send in records and apply and pay a fee to surrender the permit at the end. It isn’t cheap therefore, but it may still be cheaper than the cost of landfilling a load of waste and importing new materials so it is worth considering.
Permits are not time limited
Specific conditions need to be complied with i.e. Technical Competent Manager, Environmental Management System
Standard permits are a set of fixed rules for common activities. If you can meet the requirements you can have a standard permit. They have fixed charges.
Bespoke permits are written specifically for your activity. They take longer to process than standard permits so they tend to be more expensive.
If you can’t meet the requirements for an exemption or standard permit then you will need to apply for a bespoke permit.

12. Waste Exemptions Most new exemptions are free
Except T11 Refurbishment of WEEE
Registration lasts 3 Years
All exemptions specify the waste types using EWC
Examples of exemptions:
T12 – Manual treatment of waste
U9 – Use of waste to manufacture finished goods
Exemptions for lower risk activities.
Smaller quantities and specific conditions i.e storage or treatment activity types.
Find out cost of T11 Exemption
60 New exemptions. Split into Use, Treatment, Storage, Disposal

13. Waste Exemptions Cont…
Need to re-register existing exemptions
Transitional Period:
Para 30 – Now T2: Recovery of Textiles
Para 40 – Now T11: Repair or refurbishment of WEEE
Para 41 – Now S2: Secure storage of WEEE
All Change 1st October 2012
60 New exemptions. Split into Use, Treatment, Storage, Disposal

14. You probably have questions
You probably have questions. Please see me in the surgery or call
Thank you