Introduction
We consulted about 3 new standard rules permits, which are for waste operators who carry out the treatment of:
Currently you can register a waste exemption for these activities. However, the Government may change the law to require operators of these kinds of waste sites to have an environmental permit. We are preparing for this by developing these standard permits.
Within the consultation we have also included minor revisions to existing standard rules sets.
How we ran the consultation
We shared a pre-consultation draft of the new standard rules permits with key trade associations in Autumn 2019. Their comments helped us develop the rules on which we formally consulted.
We ran the formal online public consultation on our Citizen Space website for 15 weeks, from 21 October 2019 to 31 January 2020.
Summary of key findings and actions we will take
Proposed new standard rules for mattresses – SR2019 No 4
You told us that the proposed waste quantity limits were too low to be viable. We will raise the limits to:
We will also increase the maximum waste storage duration to 3 months and add waste code 04 02 22.
Proposed new standard rules for paper, card and plastic – SR2019 No 5
You told us that the waste quantity limits are too low to be viable. We will raise the limits to:
We will also increase the maximum waste storage duration to 3 months and add waste codes 19 12 01 and 19 12 04.
You told us that our proposed requirement to unload loose waste and to load it in a building will place significant costs on businesses, to the extent that many sites will become nonviable. We will remove this requirement, but will add operating techniques that require litter control infrastructure around designated loading and unloading areas.
Proposed new standard rules for tyres – SR2019 No 6
You told us that the waste quantity limits are too low to be viable. We will raise the limits to:
We will change the rules to allow manual sorting of tyre casings outside the building. We will also expand the retreading activity to ’cleaning, repair, re-grooving and retreading’.
Proposed changes to standard rules SR2008 No 12 and SR2008 No 13
Our proposals to add 2 new permitted waste types (tyres and mixed construction and demolition waste) were unanimously supported. We will make these changes to the 2 rules sets.
Proposed changes to rules set SR2015 No 18
The proposed change to add storage of intact catalytic converter storage to the rules set was unanimously supported.
There were mixed views on the proposed change to remove oil filters and brake pads from the list of permitted waste types. These wastes may be produced at sites through the dismantling process where they form part of the end of life vehicle. However, the data we have demonstrates that these waste types are not being accepted as separate waste types. Therefore they do not need to be specified in the rules set as a permitted waste type.
We will remove these waste types from the standard rules set. This is consistent with the approach we have taken for similar rules sets.
Proposed changes to standard rules sets SR2008 No 20, SR2011 No 3, SR2012 No 14, SR2015 No 13, SR2015 No 17 and SR2015 No 18
Our proposals to change the interpretation of waste motor vehicle in the rules sets were supported. We will proceed with making these changes to the rules sets.
Next Steps
We have published our consultation summary report. We will now publish the new standard rules and amended standard rules on the GOV.UK website
Where appropriate, we will make the new standard rules sets available ahead of the waste exemption changes.
Individuals who wish to follow up their responses, or points made within this document, in more detail are welcome to contact us via
Email: wastetreatment@environment-agency.gov.uk
View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.
We are proposing three new standard rule permits in preparation for possible changes to exemptions coming from Government's consultation on "Reducing crime at sites handling waste, and introducing fixed penalties for waste duty of care".
The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 allow us to offer standard permits to reduce administrative burden on business whilst maintaining environmental standards. They are based on sets of standard rules that we can apply widely.
The proposed new standard rule sets are for operators of waste sites currently operating under exemptions;
The consultation includes three standard rule sets, associated generic risk assessment and the application and subsistence fees associated with the standard rules set. The new proposed standard rule sets are;
The consultation also includes revisions to three existing standard rule sets, we are proposing to add two new waste codes to SR2008 No12 and SR2008 No13. The proposed waste codes are;
We are also proposing changes to SR2015 No18 including the acceptance and storage of intact waste vehicle catalytic converters, removal of waste codes and amending a number of conditions, including the interpretation of waste motor vehicle.
We are also proposing to change the interpretation of waste motor vehicle in standard rule sets SR2008 No20, SR2011 No3, SR2012 No14, SR2015 No13 and SR2015 No17 (these links are to the current rule sets).
We welcome your views on the proposed changes that are relevant to you.
This consultation is your opportunity to comment on our proposals to introduce three new standard rule sets and the revisions to existing standard rule sets.
For more information on the charges and what a standard rules permit is, please see our consultation document.
Please click on the link below to answer the consultation questions.
However, if you prefer, you can submit your response by email or post by downloading the response form (below) and sending it to:
Future Regulation - Permitting (Standard Rules Consultation)
Environment Agency
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH
Or email: standard-rules@environment-agency.gov.uk
We will use your views to help shape these standard rules. Once we have considered all the consultation responses we publish a consultation response and make any required changes to the rule sets.
The three new standard rule sets and revised standard rule sets will then be published.
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