New publications this month:

HM GOVERNMENT

REVISED RETAINED EU LAW (REVOCATION AND REFORM) BILL

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill was amended significantly in May 2023.

The Bill is now in its final stages and will become an Act once it receives Royal Assent.

What has changed?

The Bill originally proposed the automatic revocation of all retained direct EU legislation and EU-derived subordinate legislation at the end of 2023, unless extended by regulations. The Amended Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill removes this blanket deadline.

In the place of the automatic revocation deadline, the amended Bill includes a Schedule stating legislation that will be revoked at the end of 2023.

Legislation for Revocation

587 items of legislation are due to be revoked at the end of 2023, most of which no longer have any effect in the UK as they have been superseded or relate to obligations the UK had as an EU Member State.

For example, many of the items for revocation relate to the operation of the EU Emissions Trading System, which the UK no longer participates in, or to expired authorisations under the EU Biocidal Products Regulation, which is now operated as a GB-only scheme.

The following revocations are of note with respect to the environment:

• National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018, Regulations 9 and 10:
  The regulations to be revoked concern the National Air Pollution Control Programme (NACP). The Department for Business and Trade stated that the current NACP format is overlong and overcomplicated and unnecessary given air quality targets under the Environment Act 2021.
   
• Guarantees of Origin of Electricity Produced from High-efficiency Cogeneration Regulations 2007:
  No CHP guarantees of origin have been issued to date. Therefore, the scheme is no longer considered necessary.
   
• Flood Risk Regulations 2009:
  This legislation applied to England and Wales and has been superseded by requirements under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

• Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources Regulations 2011:
  No targets were set after 2020 and the other duties it contains are replicated in other legislation.

• Motor Fuel (Road Vehicle and Mobile Machinery) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Regulations 2012:
  Suppliers of transport fuels were required to report greenhouse gas emissions annually. This legislation is being revoked as it does not set binding targets.

• Renewable Transport Fuels and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulations 2018, Part 4:
  This Part amends the Motor Fuel (Road Vehicle and Mobile Machinery) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Regulations 2012, which are to be revoked.
   
• Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2013:
  This legislation was superseded by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 and is no longer in force.
   
• Energy Efficiency (Eligible Buildings) Regulations 2013, Energy Efficiency (Building Renovation and Reporting) Regulations 2014 and Energy Efficiency (Encouragement, Assessment and Information) Regulations 2014:
  Targets set by these regulations have expired and other duties are duplicated in other legislation.

Future Reforms and Revocation of Retained EU Law

A further clause will require the Secretary of State to report annually on the revocation and reform retained EU law.

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY, NATURAL RESOURCES WALES, DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA) AND WELSH GOVERNMENT

Medium combustion plant: apply for an environmental permit

The Simple Calculation of Atmospheric Impact Limits (SCAIL) tool is being introduced to simplify the assessment of Medium Combustion Plant air emissions on protected habitats sites. SCAIL will need to be used where the planned or existing Medium Combustion Plant is within the stated screening distances set from protected habitat sites.

The SCAIL tool was previously due to be rolled out from 31 May 2023. This has now been delayed to 30 June 2023.

HM TREASURY AND HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS (HMRC)

Proposed changes to the Plastic Packaging Tax

Reforms are proposed for the plastic packaging tax, with the objective of driving investment in chemical recycling of plastics. Chemical recycling breaks down plastic waste to a molecular level, generating a raw material that can be used to produce new plastic.

It is proposed that chemically recycled plastic will be counted against the 30% recycled content threshold, which must be met for the plastic packaging tax not to be apply. A consultation will be undertaken on this planned change.

DEFRA

Single-use plastics ban: plates, bowls, trays, containers, cutlery and balloon sticks

From 1 October 2023 these single-use plastic items may no longer be supplied or sold. Guidance is provided on the ban and exemptions applicable.

Complying with the biodiversity duty

Guidance is provided to public authorities on how they may meet the biodiversity duty under the Environment Act 2021.

Reporting your biodiversity duty actions

This new document states when local authorities and local planning authorities must publish biodiversity reports and the information that must be included.

DEFRA AND ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

Packaging data: tell us how you collected it for extended producer responsibility

Guidance is provided on how the methodology used for the collection of packaging data must be reported under the extended producer responsibility regime.

DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO AND DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY (BEIS)

Energy Security Bill: factsheets

Further factsheets have been published on elements of the Energy Security Bill:

• Great British Nuclear
• Network charging compensation scheme for energy intensive industries
• Hydrogen transport and storage business models
• Retention, reporting and disclosure of carbon dioxide storage information and samples

Retention, reporting and disclosure of carbon dioxide storage information and samples

This new policy statement supports proposals under the Energy Security Bill.

DEPARTMENT FOR LEVELLING UP, HOUSING AND COMMUNITIES

Scottish Deposit Return Scheme: UK internal market exclusion

This document confirms that the UK Government has agreed to provide a temporary conditional agreement to the Scottish Government, which excludes the planned Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland from UK internal market principles.

WELSH GOVERNMENT

Monitoring and maximising the performance of roof-top solar arrays: guidance

Guidance is provided to public sector organisations on improving the performance of roof-top solar arrays.

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

Adapting to climate change: industry sector examples for your risk assessment

These documents provide examples of climate change adaptation risk assessments for a range of permitted sectors. These assessments have been updated to reflect experiences gained due to extreme weather events in 2022.

Application for an environmental permit: low risk medium combustion plant and specified generator

This application form has been updated.

MCERTS examination syllabuses for manual stack emissions monitoring

An adjustment has been made to wording in this document.

Technical Guidance for Landspreading permits

These technical guidance documents must be followed by permitted operators undertaking landspreading.

• Landspreading to improve soil health
• Landspreading: how to comply with your permit
• Landspreading: benefits and risks of the waste types you can use
• Landspreading: how to manage soil health

Hazardous waste: consignee returns guidance (England)

This guidance has been updated to state that reduced reporting requirements will apply to waste electrical and telecommunication cable in quantities under 25kg, where produced by a construction or demolition contractor, electrical contractor or vehicle maintenance facility.

Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs):

The following new RPSs were published during May 2023:

• Emergency services and armed forces use of ELVs and other wastes: RPS 167
• Storing and physically treating hazardous metal shredder residues: RPS 274
• Storing and treating hazardous waste cable: RPS 276

MARITIME AND COASTGUARD AGENCY (MCA)

MIN 669 (M+F) Amendment 1 - Reporting emissions data into the UK MRV regime

This Marine Information Notice states how ship operators and verifiers should meet emissions data reporting requirements under the UK Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) regime.

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

Heat networks: Building Assessment Report (BAR) guidance

Statutory guidance is provided to owners of non-domestic buildings on how they must discharge their duty to assess their building’s potential to connect to a heat network. A full BAR must be completed for properties with an annual heat demand of 73 MWh a year or greater.

Heat Network Zone (HNZ) guidance

This statutory guidance supports local authorities in their duty to review and potentially designate heat network zones under the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021.

SCOTTISH ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY (SEPA)

Standard conditions for radioactive substances activities

Standard conditions on authorisations for radioactive substances activities in Scotland have been updated.

First Scottish penalty for greenhouse gas issued under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Regulation

SEPA has issued a civil penalty to a health food supplements manufacturer for failing to provide a leakage detection system on equipment containing powerful greenhouse gases.  

DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited operates equipment that requires an F-gas to function. The company is required to submit data to SEPA every year under the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI). In 2020 the emissions reported (898.20kg) were over eight times the reporting threshold, considerably higher than previous years and DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited was flagged as being in the top three highest emitters for Scotland.  

An investigation by SEPA's specialist Carbon Reduction, Energy and Industry Unit discovered there had been accidental releases of F-gases from the site. While there is no requirement under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015 to inform SEPA of any release, operators of equipment that contains F-gases must take precautions to prevent the unintentional release (‘leakage’) of those gases. For some equipment, automatic leakage detection systems are required. 

DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited, operates four chilled water units, each of which holds 600kg of R134A, a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gas. DSM is legally required to ensure that any chiller that holds over 500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) or above has a leak detection system, which alerts the operator or a service company of any leakage. The four chiller tanks contained a total capacity of 3,432 tCO2e and no leak detection system was in place.  

DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited has advised SEPA that the two water chillers responsible for most of the leaks were installed in 1980 by the previous operator of the site. Refrigerants have changed over the years and at some point there was an increase in holding capacity - the labels on the machines were not updated.   

A maximum civil penalty of £100,000 may be applied for breaches of the requirement to install a leakage detection system where one is required.  

SEPA has discretion on whether to impose a civil penalty and whether to impose the maximum amount. DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited cooperated fully with SEPA’s investigation and provided information and documentation when requested to do so in a timely manner. It has installed a leak detection system and has a plan to reduce reliance on F-Gases. SEPA therefore reduced the civil penalty to £75,000.  

Legislation

The penalty was issued under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015, which enforce the retained Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 in Great Britain.

Penalty

DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited received a civil penalty of £75,000.

Sheffield waste operator issued with further restriction order

M White Skips Ltd has received a further restriction order, which prohibits anyone from entering or depositing waste at the site. This order was issued to reduce risks to and impacts on the local community and environment.

The Environment Agency first blocked access to the site in Sheffield in February 2023 to prevent it from accepting and managing more waste.

Alongside issuing the order, Sheffield Magistrates Court ordered the company and its owner to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £17,199.48.

The Environment Agency has committed to continuing to inspect the site regularly and to work with partners to ensure the order is complied with. The Environment Agency has also stated that the regulator will continue to work towards clearing the site. Further enforcement action will reportedly be taken if necessary.

The Environment Agency is working alongside South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in the ongoing criminal investigation into activities at the site.

The new restriction order will remain in force until 22 November 2023.

Asbestos conman ordered to pay back thousands

A builder who hid asbestos near a school after lying to customers about his qualifications to remove it has been ordered to hand over the money he earned from dozens of jobs.

The man used the company name Lincs Demolition Ltd for two years. He claimed he was registered to remove asbestos in places across England including Abingdon, Caterham, Dorking, Gravesend, Luton and Sidcup. The man did not hold the required authorisations from the Environment Agency to undertake this work.

Having duped customers, the man stashed the waste asbestos in hired storage containers at Welbourn, in Lincolnshire, 200m from a school and close to a Girl Guide centre. The man had told the owners of the storage space he wanted to keep tools there. When he failed to pay the rent on the containers, the owners forced the locks and were confronted with the dangerous contents.

Once exposed, the man abandoned the storage containers and moved to an unpermitted waste site 16 miles away near Sleaford, where he continued to store asbestos unsafely, posing a risk to public health.

Breaches

In March 2022, the man pleaded guilty to two counts of operating a waste operation without a permit, contrary to Regulation 12, Regulation 38(1)(a) and Regulation 41(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016.

• Regulation 12 requires that persons do not operate regulated activities, water discharge activities and groundwater activities unless authorised by and in accordance with an environmental permit.
• Regulation 38(1)(a) made it an offence to contravene Regulation 12(1).
• Regulation 41(1)(a) make officers of bodies corporate guilty of offences as well as the body, if this was committed with consent or connivance of an officer or is attributable to neglect on any part of the officer.

The man also pleaded guilty to two counts of keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm, contrary to Section 33(1)(c), Section 33(6) and Section 157(1) of Environmental Protection Act 1990.

• Section 33(1)(c) states a person shall not treat, keep or dispose of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.
• Section 33(6) states a person who contravenes Section 33(1) commits an offence.
• Section 157(1) states that where an offence under the Act is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, they will also be guilty of that offence.

Penalty

The man was ordered to pay £82,100 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

In 2022 the man was given 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.