Waste Watch - December 2012

This Update contains brief details of 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:

Enforcement	Permits and Licences
Hazardous Waste	Public Private Finance
Litter and Fly-tipping	Waste Management
Packaging Waste	WEEE

Enforcement

Environment Agency: £80,000 penalty for Lancashire waste criminal: reports that a waste company director has been ordered by Preston Crown Court to pay a penalty of £80,000 in criminal benefits under the Proceeds of Crime Act, after pleading guilty to six charges relating to waste offences. He was also sentenced to 200 hours’ community service. The charges arose following a lengthy investigation by the Environment Agency into illegal waste activities which found that 21,000m3 of construction and demolition waste had been dumped on farmland in Poulton-le-Fylde and Preesall without permission. (29 November 2012)   

Home Office: New penalties for scrap metal dealers: announces the coming into force on 3 December 2012 of s.146 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which makes it an offence for scrap metal dealers to pay for scrap metal in cash, only permitting electronic payment or payment by cheque. The Act also increases significantly the fines available for key offences under the existing Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 so that the most serious breaches can result in a level 5 fine, and it revises the police powers of entry into scrap metal yards, allowing the police to enter, by warrant, any place to which admission is reasonably required to ascertain whether the prohibition on cash payments is being complied with. The Government has allocated £5m to a dedicated metal theft taskforce. (3 December 2012)

Environment Agency: Novel approaches to waste crime – A report of three waste crime prevention pilots: this report, produced under the European Pathway to Zero Waste (EPOW) programme, summarises the findings of three pilot projects that tested the effectiveness of novel public sector led approaches to reducing waste crime which would support emerging new business markets for the reuse of recovered materials. (18 December 2012) 

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Hazardous Waste

Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/2032): these regulations, which come into force on 2 January 2013, implement the revised ROHS Directive 2011/65, and revoke and replace the previous ROHS Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/37). They severely restrict the use of six hazardous substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers) in 11 categories of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), and require compliant products to be CE marked. The new Directive brings additional categories of EEE within its scope, phased in over a period ending in July 2019. It also introduces CE marking and conformity assessments, as well as placing obligations on economic operators throughout the supply chain (manufacturers, importers and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment). (7 December 2012)

DEFRA: Environmental permitting – Consultation on draft Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 to transpose Directive 2011/97/EU which specifies criteria for the storage of metallic mercury waste when stored for greater than 12 months: seeks views on the transposition of Directive 2011/97 which sets specific criteria for the storage of metallic mercury considered to be waste. Regulation 1102/2008 placed a ban on the export of metallic mercury, and this has resulted in surplus amounts of mercury in the EU, so safe storage of this mercury needs to be ensured. This consultation sets out proposals to propose to amend the Environmental Permitting Regulations (SI 2010/675) from 15 March 2013 to enable regulators to exercise their relevant functions so as to permit the storage of metallic mercury in accordance with the requirements of Regulation 1102/2008. In addition, the COMAH Regulations 1999 will be amended to ensure that they include facilities that have been permitted to store metallic mercury waste. The consultation closes on 25 January 2013. (14 December 2012)

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Litter and Fly-tipping

DEFRA: Fly-tipping statistics for England, 2011/12: these latest figures summarise incidents of illegally deposited waste recorded by local authorities, and the cost of dealing with them, in the financial year April 2011 to March 2012. They show that fly-tipping incidents in England have decreased by 9% between the financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12. Nearly two thirds of fly-tips involved household waste. The estimated cost of clearance of fly-tipping to local authorities was £37.4m, about a 9% reduction over 2010/11. Local authorities carried out around 490,000 enforcement actions at an estimated cost of £17.7m, a 14% decrease in actions over 2010/11. (18 December 2012)

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Packaging Waste

Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/3082): these regulations, which come into force on 11 December 2012, amend SI 2007/871 by including packaging waste recovery and recycling targets for 2013-7, and introducing split targets for glass based on the end use. (10 December 2012)

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Permits and Licences

Environment Agency: Landfill (EPR 5.02) and other permanent deposits of waste – How to surrender your environmental permit: guidance on what evidence should be included in the surrender report supporting an application for the surrender of a permit for the permanent deposit of waste. Permit holders must use this technical guidance when they plan to apply to surrender their permit for a permanent deposit of waste - this will be when they have fulfilled their closure and aftercare requirements and the site is unlikely to pose a risk. (13 December 2012)

Draft Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2013: these draft regulations amend SI 2010/675 so as to transpose the IPPC Directive 2010/75 that recasts seven current Directives into a single one about regulating emissions from various industrial activities, ranging from power generation to intensive pig farming and waste incineration to dry cleaning. Much of the material in the component Directives is substantively unchanged, but there are some tightened or clarified requirements. They also remove some otiose descriptions of industrial activities from Sch.1 to those Regulations and repeal three other statutory instruments which have no current purpose. (14 December 2012)

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Public Private Finance

HM Treasury: A new approach to public private partnerships: announces the conclusions of the Government's review of PFI and sets out its proposed new approach, PF2, for involving private finance in the delivery of public infrastructure and services. PF2 will involve the public sector taking stakes of up to 49% in individual private finance projects (20% stakes are likely to be typical) and appointing a director to the boards of each project. (5 December 2012)

HM Treasury: Standardisation of contracts: this detailed draft guidance for PF2 sets out the approach to be taken to structuring PF2 contracts, allocating risks between the public and private sector parties and promoting a common understanding of the new model in the market. Drafts of the new standard form services output template, pro forma payment mechanism, and shareholder arrangements will be published shortly for consultation. Following this they will be incorporated into “Standardisation of PF2 Contracts” which will then be republished in final form.

For a detailed commentary on the proposals, see our Alert: PF2 - a new approach or business as usual? What is in it for you?
Bevan Brittan is holding a seminar on PF2 on 17 January 2013 which will review the key differences as between PFI and PF2; address the challenges presented by PF2; and assist you in the delivery of potential PF2 opportunities. To book a place, please register via our website. 

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Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment

Environment Agency: WEEE evidence and National WEEE Protocols guidance (GN04): guidance on how to issue evidence of the re-use and treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE, how to use the national WEEE protocols for small mixed WEEE and large domestic appliances, and meeting the recovery and recycling targets. It supplements the information and guidance in WMP5, 6 and 7 Application Forms and Guidance Notes for approved authorised treatment facilities (AATFs) and approved exporters (AE), and includes, and replaces the protocols guidance document GN06. (6 December 2012)

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Waste Management

DCLG: Guidance for local planning authorities on implementing planning requirements of the EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC): this guidance note advises on the measures required by local planning authorities to ensure compliance with the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98, which provides an overarching legislative framework for the management of waste across Europe. The guidance highlights the main legal and policy provisions that are relevant for all planning authorities, and the action that DCLG expects them to take to assist them in ensuring compliance with the Directive. It should be read alongside the Government’s planning policy for waste management (PPS10) and its companion guide. (18 December 2012)

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