New publications this month: 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL, ENVIRONMENT AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)

A guide to importation and export of wood and wood products for Northern Ireland

Guidance is provided on the requirements which have to be met when importing controlled material into Northern Ireland.

General guidance for applying for waste management licencing complex exemptions

Guidance is provided on the respective fees that apply when applying for a ‘complex exemption’ under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

The food and drink sector and preparing for EU Exit

Updates are made to guidance on trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland, trade, tariffs and employment following Brexit.

Whole House Retrofit (WHR) Competition

Guidance is updated on WHR cost reduction trajectory competition as a key early step in accelerating a reduction in domestic retrofit costs. 

MARINE MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION

Marine Licensing exempted activities

Updated guidance has been published on activites exempted from the marine licensing regime.

DEFRA / NATURAL ENGLAND

New General Licences

Three new general licences for the control of birds have been published, partially replacing those previously revoked:

• conserve wild birds and flora or fauna (WML GL34) (covering carrion crow, jackdaw, jay, magpie, rook, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, monk parakeet, ring-necked parakeet, sacred ibis and Indian house-crow);
• preserve public health or public safety (WML GL35) (covering carrion crow, jackdaw, magpie, feral pigeon, rook, Canada goose and monk parakeet); and
• prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters (WML GL36) (covering carrion crow, jackdaw, magpie, feral pigeon, rook, woodpigeon, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, monk parakeet and ring-necked parakeet).

SCOTTISH ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY (SEPA)

Regulatory Position Statement: Roadside Vehicle Maintenance - 3rd Party Collection and Storage of Waste

This statement provides guidance on intermediate storage of waste produced from roadside vehicle maintenance that may be carried out without a permit.

Waste giant guilty of exporting banned waste

Biffa Waste Services Ltd (Biffa) has been convicted of breaching legislation concerning the overseas exports of waste.

Biffa was prosecuted for prohibited waste to China. This waste was collected from households and included used nappies and food packaging, but Biffa had claimed this was waste paper.

Exporting unsorted household recycling waste to China has been banned since 2006. Paper can legally be sent to China however. Biffa was found guilty in court of two breaches of the prohibition on household waste in May and June 2015.

The jury didn’t accept Biffa’s version of events that the consignments leaving its depot in Edmonton complied with the law because they comprised waste paper.

An Environment Agency investigation at Felixstowe port had identified the contents of seven 25-tonne containers bound for China.  These included glass, plastics, electrical items and metal.

Instead of waste paper, investigators discovered diverse discarded debris such as shoes, plastic bags, an umbrella, socks, hand towels, unused condoms, video tape, toiletries and electric cable. Biffa was also trying to export laminate flooring, coat hangers, pet food containers, toilet wipes, latex gloves and, ironically, china.

Jurors heard Biffa used two brokers to act as intermediaries to send the waste to two sites on the South China Sea coast. The Environment Agency prevented any of the seven containers from leaving Felixstowe.

Breach

Biffa was found guilty of breaching Regulation 23 of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007.

• Regulation 23 makes it an offence to transport waste to countries where the OECD Decision (Final on control of transboundary movements of wastes destined for recovery operations) does not apply, if this is prohibited under Article 36(1) to the European Waste Shipments Regulation 1013/2006.
• Article 36(1) to the European Waste Shipments Regulation 1013/2006, which bans the export of specified types of waste

Penalty

Sentencing has been deferred until 27 September 2019.

In advance of this, the Environment Agency and Biffa have agreed £9,912 to be paid for the proceeds of crime.

Waste site director given suspended sentence for operating illegally

A company director has been found guilty of operating a waste treatment facility in Worcestershire without an environmental permit despite efforts to bring by the Environment Agency to bring the site into compliance.

Environmental Officers estimated that nearly 9,000 tonnes of waste was illegally stored on site in addition to the waste posing both a fire and pollution risk due to the sites lack of sufficient drainage. Plastics residue and pesticides from a cleaning operation also had the potential to cause pollution.

The operator of the site had registered waste exemptions, which allowed up to 500 tonnes of waste to be stored at any one time. Therefore, around 18 times more waste was stored than this limit.

Although the director stated he would apply for the necessary permits, he never did. The site was abandoned in December 2015 and significant clean-up costs were incurred.

Penalty

Barry Connally, director of Rhino Recycling Ltd, was sentenced to 12 months’ custody, suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid community work.

Jail for pair of serial Home Counties fly-tippers

Three men have been found guilty of fly-tipping hundreds of tonnes of waste at several locations across Barking, Havering, Hertfordshire and Essex between 2012 and 2014.

The Environmental Agency discovered the men had broken into sites to dump a mix of household waste, wood, textiles and aggregate from a lorry with false number plates. Sites affected included a yard owned by Network Rail.

Following the 18-month period dumping waste illegally, the criminals were arrested by Essex Police at the Environment Agency’s request.

Penalties

William Jones was sentenced to 13 months in prison and ordered to pay back £80,000 in proceeds of crime within 12 weeks or face an additional 18 month jail term.

Glenn Harper was given a custodial sentence of 12 months and ordered to pay back £146,755 in proceeds of crime within 12 weeks or face an additional 24 months in prison.

Sean Collard was sentenced to 8 months in prison, suspended for 2 years, 200 hours of unpaid work and a curfew between 7.30pm and 5.30am, in force for 12 weeks. The Environment Agency was also awarded costs against Collard of £10,000.