Waste Watch – October 2016

This update contains brief details of Government and EU publications, legislation, cases and other developments in England and Wales relevant to those interested in 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.

The following topics are covered in this update:

Enforcement	Permitting and Licensing
Fly-tipping	Procurement
Health and Safety	Recycling
Household Waste	Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Packaging Waste	Waste PFI

Enforcement

Environment Agency: Environment Agency raid on illegal transfrontier waste shipment: action taken at site used to store Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment and stolen goods prior to illegal export highlights Agency's work tackling waste crime. (19 October 2016)

^back to top

Fly-tipping

Keep Britain Tidy: Reaching the tipping point – Action plan for fly-tipping: KBT has launched an action plan to tackle the blight of fly-tipping, with the target of reducing the number of recorded fly-tipping incidents by 50% by 2020. The action plan outline the actions it will undertake, with support from Government, local authorities, waste management companies and the legal profession, to raise awareness with the public and businesses about their legal duty of care. (20 October 2016)

^back to top

Health and Safety

HSE: Risk assessment – A brief guide to controlling risks in the workplace: seeks views on proposed changes to risk assessment guidance. The updated version puts more emphasis on controlling risk and less on written assessments, without reducing standards. It also makes it very clear that risk assessment should be part of day-to-day business management. (7 October 2016)

^back to top

Household Waste

Materials Recycling World: DCLG to act over councils' HWRC charges: reports that DCLG has pledged to take action against councils that charge residents for disposal of DIY waste at their Household Waste Recycling Centres. The Department insists the term "household waste" extends to DIY waste, which should be disposed of without a charge. (10 October 2016)

^back to top

Packaging Waste

ESA: A discussion of the UK PRN/PERN system for packaging waste and possible alternatives: this report looks at the options for the UK’s market-based system of tradable recycling certificates. It argues that developing a new packaging waste regime for the UK would present a unique challenge, and the best way that the UK can benefit from European experience is to mix and match individual elements of different systems. (18 October 2016)

^back to top

Permitting and Licensing

Environment Agency: Waste recovery on land: guidance on how to apply for a waste recovery environmental permit to permanently deposit waste on land, waste recovery plans, waste acceptance procedures, and engineering and construction quality assurance (CQA) plans. (18 October 2016)

Draft Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016: these draft regulations, once in force, will provide a consolidated system of environmental permitting in England and Wales. They replace the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/675). (14 October 2016)

^back to top

Procurement

Crown Commercial Service: Contract management standards: the CCS has issued updated contract management standards for use by government departments and wider public sector organisations for the management of their contracts. (28 October 2016)

^back to top

Recycling

WRAP: Recycling guidelines: sets out nationally agreed definitive list of items that can and cannot be recycled and how those materials should be presented for collection. They cover paper, card, cartons, metal, plastic and glass packaging, and food waste. This document outlines how and why the recycling guidelines have been developed, including a summary of results from consumer testing. (12 October 2016)

^back to top

Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

DEFRA: Consultation on WEEE Compliance Fee Methodology 2016 evaluation of proposals: seeks views on two proposals from external organisations for a compliance fee methodology and administrator for 2016. Comments are invited on whether the Secretary of State should set a compliance fee for 2016 and if so the extent to which each of the proposals meet the published evaluation criteria. The consultation closes on 25 November 2016. (19 October 2016)

^back to top

Waste PFI

NAO: Waste and recycling – Review of Defra’s 2010 decision to withdraw the provisional allocation of PFI credits from seven (out of 18) PFI projects: On 20 October 2010, Defra announced the withdrawal of provisional allocation of PFI credits from seven out of 18 projects, which it deemed were no longer needed to meet 2020 landfill diversion targets. This memorandum, prepared for the Environmental Audit Committee's scrutiny of this decision, outlines some of the evidence that was available to Defra and HM Treasury to make this decision. It also outlines progress made on waste and recycling since and the current likelihood of England achieving its share of the EU Landfill Directive targets set for the UK. (7 October 2016)

^back to top