Environment Agency charge proposals for simpler recycling
Introduction
We are proposing to introduce an hourly rate (time and materials charge) of £118 for businesses or occupiers of relevant non-domestic premises that are not complying with the requirements for simpler recycling.
Where non-compliance is found, the business or occupier of a relevant non-domestic premises would have to pay us for the time taken to:
- identify the breach
- provide advice
- serve a compliance notice
- any further compliance assessment
The regulation we need to deliver
Paper and card must be collected separately from plastic, metal, and glass (unless the collector has completed a written assessment which demonstrates it is not practicable).
If there is a reasonable suspicion of non-compliance, we will carry out compliance assessments of businesses and occupiers of relevant non-domestic premises which produce relevant waste (waste producers) and waste collectors. We will do this through an intelligence led approach, acting on information received from external sources or our own regulatory regimes. We can serve compliance notices on finding non-compliance.
The proposed charge will allow us to recover the cost of our regulatory work for delivering this new service.
What we aim to achieve
We have considered our charges against the need to deliver our regulatory duties.
Our aim is to achieve a consistent and transparent approach in how we charge for activity to regulate businesses and occupiers of relevant non-domestic premises that are not complying with the simpler recycling requirements.
The proposed charge represents the cost of our regulatory staff completing this work and it is in line with the hourly rates we charge for other technical services. We model the hourly rates for recovering our costs in a consistent manner across all of our major regimes. Guidance is provided in how the Environment Agency calculates its charges, to help you understand what we include when we develop or review a charge.
Any compliance or enforcement action would take into account the individual circumstances and steps taken by a business to achieve compliance. In line with the Regulator’s Code, we are required to support growth, engage with business, take a risk-based and proportionate approach to regulation, and help those we regulate get it right.
We know our charges can affect those we regulate so we have considered our proposals carefully. We are always interested to hear how you think we can regulate more fairly, while safeguarding the environment more effectively.
Why we are consulting
Amendments made to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by the Environment Act 2021 require a consistent set of core recyclable materials to be collected from households and businesses in England as set out in simpler recycling in England. The purpose of this legislation change is to improve the quality of recycling and increase recycling rates.
Our charge proposal will make sure the costs of compliance assessment activities are met by non-compliant businesses and occupiers of relevant non-domestic premises rather than those who comply with the regulations. This is in line with the polluter pays principle.
The principles we follow
Our aim is to make the environment a better place for people and wildlife while facilitating sustainable development and supporting economic growth.
The proposals we have outlined in this consultation ensure that:
- people only pay for the regulatory service they receive
- we will recover our costs of regulation
- we will not need to use additional taxpayer funds to support our regulatory work
In this consultation our considerations include the need to:
- make sure our costs are reflected in our charges and align with HM Treasury rules in managing public money guidance
- have regard to the desirability of promoting economic growth (under s108 of the Deregulation Act 2015) when we carry out our regulatory activities
- make sure our regulatory activities are transparent, accountable, proportionate, consistent and targeted only at cases where action is needed (in accordance with the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006)
- make sure we follow the Regulator's Code (as required under section 22 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006)
Our powers to charge
We have powers under legislation to recover the cost of some of our regulatory activities from people and organisations that require environmental regulation. This is to make sure these activities are not funded by the taxpayer. We are exercising our charging powers under section 41 and 41a of the Environment Act 1995.
Under HM Treasury guidelines, managing public money, we have a responsibility to recover the costs of our regulatory activity by setting charges at the appropriate level wherever applicable.