Waste Watch - April 2011

This Update contains brief details of recent Government and EU publications, legislation, cases and other developments in England and Wales relevant to those interested in municipal waste management, which have been published in the past month.

Items are set out by subject, with a link to where the full document can be found on the internet. All links are correct at the date of publication.

If you have been forwarded this update by a colleague and would like to receive it direct please email Claire Booth.

The following topics are covered in this update:

End of Life Vehicles	Procurement
Hazardous Waste	Wales
Health and Safety	Waste Collection
Landfill	Waste Management
Permitting and Licensing	WEEE

 

End of Life Vehicles

Environment Agency: Waste Crime Innovation Programme - End of life vehicles: Guidance for authorised treatment facilities: guidance for site operators on keeping, treating and disposing of End of Life Vehicles and the waste produced by the treatment process. (26 April 2011)

^back to top

Hazardous Waste

DH: Safe management of healthcare waste: second edition of the best practice guide to the management of healthcare waste, updating the 2006 Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 07-01. The key changes include: an update to statutory requirements; a focus on the waste hierarchy through procurement practices; a drive to address the carbon impact related to waste; the integration of new sector guides on GPs, dental practices, and community pharmacies; an emphasis on practical advice through case study examples (in particular on offensive waste streams), and more by way of staff training material; and, a review of terminology used for healthcare, clinical and non-clinical wastes.  (1 March 2011)

Environment Agency: Waste Framework Directive - hazardous waste changes: summarises new requirements for people who produce or manage hazardous that have been introduced under the revised Waste Framework Directive 2008/98. (31 March 2011) 

^back to top

Health and Safety

HSE: Waste company fined £250,000 after member of the public dies: reports that Lewes Crown Court has fined Team Waste (Southern) Ltd £250,000 and ordered it to pay £50,000 costs for breaching s.3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The prosecution arose following an incident in Brighton when a woman died after being hit by a refuse lorry early one morning. The HSE investigation found that the driver reversed the refuse collection vehicle without a reversing assistant, contrary to Team Waste's operating policy. The vehicle also had defective CCTV at the rear and the audible reversing siren was turned off as the driver believed such alarms were prohibited before 7 a.m. In addition, the company failed to ensure that control measures identified in their own risk assessment were put into practice. (26 April 2011)

^back to top

Landfill

Environment Agency: Guidance on financial provision for landfill: guidance for landfill operators applying for permits under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. It sets out the Agency’s approach to managing the financial provisions requirements of the Landfill Directive 1999/31. (21 April 2011)

^back to top

Permitting and Licensing

Environment Agency: Environmental permitting charging scheme guidance: guide to the Agency’s charges under the Environmental Permitting Charging Scheme that apply from 1 April 2011. It covers the different types of operations that require a permit under the Environmental Permitting Regulations as well as various other charges relating to carriers, brokers and dealers of waste, producer responsibility, international waste shipments, waste exemptions and environmental permits. (1 April 2011)

^back to top

Procurement

National Audit Office: Lessons from PFI and other projects: this report brings together findings from the NAO's five recent reports on PFI. It also draws on nine other NAO reports on non-PFI projects and the NAO’s wider experience of good practice across the public sector. It concludes that lessons from the large body of experience of using PFI can be applied to improve other forms of procurement and help Government achieve its aim of securing annual infrastructure delivery cost savings of £2bn - £3bon. Government should also do more to act as an ‘intelligent customer’ in the procurement and management of projects. The case for using private finance in public procurement needs to be challenged more, given the spending watchdog’s previous analysis that the cost of debt finance has increased since the credit crisis by 20% to 33%. Also, under the national accounting rules, privately financed projects will often still be off balance-sheet which may continue to act as an incentive to use PFI. The NAO concludes that, in the current climate, the use of private finance may not be as suitable for as many projects as it has been in the past. There has not been a systematic value for money evaluation of operational PFI projects by departments. There is, therefore, insufficient data to demonstrate whether the use of private finance has led to better or worse value for money than other forms of procurement. The NAO calls on the Treasury and departments to identify alternative methods for delivering infrastructure and related facilities services, building on the lessons learnt from PFI, to maximise value for money for government. (28 April 2011)

^back to top

Wales

Recycling, Preparation for Re-use and Composting Targets (Monitoring and Penalties) (Wales) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/1014 (W.152)): section 3 of the Waste (Wales) Measure 2010 establishes statutory targets for the percentage of a Welsh local authority’s municipal waste which must be recycled, prepared for re-use and composted. It also imposes liability on a local authority to a financial penalty if it fails to meet a target. These regulations, which came into force on 30 March 2011, contain detailed provisions on the monitoring and enforcement of these targets. (29 March 2011)

^back to top

Waste Collection

DCLG: Bin charging - Letter to local authority chief executives: the Environment Minister Lord Henley and Local Government Minister Bob Neill have written to all local authorities reminding them not to exceed their legal powers by imposing 'backdoor' bin taxes. They state that the Waste Review currently being carried out has revealed that a small minority of councils are seeking to charge for bin bags or for the collection of normal household rubbish. Councils are accordingly reminded that s.45(3) EPA 1990 specifically bars local authorities from making a charge for the collection of household waste, except in cases prescribed in regulations, and the letter instructs councils to stop the spread of such practice. The Ministers also inform councils that the Waste Review, which is due to report in May 2011, is looking at the enforcement powers and penalties available to local authorities in relation to waste collection and disposal, to ensure that they are proportionate, relevant and respect civil liberties. (11 April 2011)

^back to top

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

Valpak WEEE Distributor Takeback Scheme: WEEE Local Authority Project Fund: announces funding to support local authorities and partner organisations in activities aimed at increasing the separate collection of household WEEE for reuse and recycling. Applications will be considered from waste collection authorities (WCAs) and waste disposal authorities (WDAs). Approximately £650,000 is available to spend on projects up to 31 December 2012. There is a maximum funding cap of £100k on collaborative project proposals involving more than one waste disposal authority, and a maximum funding cap of £30k on all other applications. All funding will be passported through the WDA specified on the application. The closing date for applications is 1 June 2011. (4 April 2011)

^back to top

Waste Management

DCLG: Planning Policy Statement 10 Planning for sustainable waste management: sets out the Government's policy that must be taken into account by waste planning authorities and forms part of the national waste management plan for the UK. PPS10 has been updated to incorporate the new waste hierarchy set out in the revised Waste Framework Directive 2008/98; it replaces PPG 10: Planning and Waste Management (1999) and an earlier edition of PPS10 published in 2005. (30 March 2011)

Environment Agency: Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 – Quick guide for waste producers and business: summary of changes introduced by the revised Waste Framework Directive 2008/98 that came into force on 29 March 2011. (13 April 2011)

^back to top