New publications this month:

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

Risk assessments for your environmental permit

Applicants for bespoke waste or installation environmental permits to operate more than five years are required to undertake an ‘climate change adaptation risk assessment’. Guidance on these assessments has been published.

Applying for quotas to produce or import F gas

Guidance has been published on how to obtain and comply with a quota to produce or import hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) or equipment containing HFCs.

Low risk waste position: Manual treatment of waste windows and doors

The manual treatment of waste windows and doors may be undertaken without an environmental permit under this a low risk waste position.

Hazardous waste: consignee returns spreadsheet

Guidance has been updated to reflect changes to the consignee returns spreadsheet.

Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs)

The following RPSs were published or updated during October 2019:

• Temporary storage of contaminated waste waters removed from gas pipelines: RPS 100
• Retaining shock absorbers and airbags in otherwise fully depolluted ELVs: RPS 195

Ozone-depleting substances (ODSs)

A series of guidance has been published on activities involving ODSs.

Checking ozone-depleting substances equipment for leaks

Guidance is provided on how often equipment containing hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), a type of ozone-depleting substance, must be checked for leaks.

Qualifications to service equipment containing ozone-depleting substances (HCFCs)

Guidance has been published on the qualifications required to work with HCFCs.

Record and report ozone-depleting substances you import, export, sell or destroy

Guidance has been published for importers, exporters, sellers and destroyers of ODSs.

Applying for quota to import or produce ozone-depleting substances

Guidance has been published on how to obtain a quota to import or produce ODSs.

Applying for a licence to import or export ozone-depleting substances

Guidance has been published on the licence you need to import or export ODSs.

Register to use ozone-depleting substances for laboratory or analytical purposes

This guidance covers permitted uses, registration and declaration duties for the use of ODSs in laboratories or for analysis.

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)

Environment Bill 2019

DEFRA has published an overview of the Environment Bill, which will have significant impacts on topics including waste management, biodiversity and air pollution.

BREXIT UPDATE

Although the EU withdrawal agreement bill passed the second reading vote in the house of commons last week, the accompanying programme motion was voted down. Therefore, there is no agreed schedule for the bill to return for the next stage. This means the bill could not become law before the original 31 October 2019 withdrawal deadline.

On 28 October 2019 the EU agreed to extend the withdrawal date until 31 January 2020. This ‘flexible’ extension allows the UK to leave the EU earlier, should the withdrawal agreement be ratified before this date.

Until the withdrawal date, whatever this is, the UK remains a full member of the EU.

Waste giant forced to pay over £500,000 for exporting banned waste

Biffa has been found guilty of illegally exporting contaminated household waste to China between May and June 2015. This waste was incorrectly described as waste paper.

Although marked as waste paper, the contents of containers sent to China included soiled nappies, food packaging, items of clothing, bags of faeces, wood, tin cans, plastic bottles and electric cable.

The confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 was brought by the Environmental Agency against Biffa after seven 25-tonne containers, destined for China, were seized at Felixstowe Port.

The court also heard details of four further charges against the company, concerning 42 containers illegally exported to India and Indonesia between November 2018 and February 2019.

Penalty

Biffa was fined £350,000 and ordered to pay costs of £240,000 with a further £9,912 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

South Shields waste crime offender ordered to pay over £6,000

A man has been fined after failing to obtain an environmental permit and then failing to comply with advice and guidance on compliance from the Environment Agency.

Environment Agency officers identified that a site in South Shields was being used to process ‘end of life’ vehicles and deposit waste. A permit was not held for these activities, which were carried out between January 2017 and September 2018.

The Environment Agency issued advice and guidance to bring the site into compliance, which was consequently ignored by the operator, Paul Catley.

Breach

Paul Catley pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

• Regulation 38(1)(a) makes it an offence to contravene Regulation 12(1), which prohibits persons from operating a regulated facility, water discharge or groundwater activity except in accordance with an environmental permit.

Penalty

Paul Catley was fined £1,384, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £135 and costs of £4,483.90.

Mr Catley has also been ordered by the Court to have all of the offending waste removed by 1 December 2019.

Court orders former Northumberland recycling business to pay over £50,000 after breaching environmental regulations

Northern Compliance, which operated a WEEE compliance scheme, and its director have been found guilty of failing to comply with its obligations in relation to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

Northern Compliance was found not to have paid the WEEE Compliance Fee Fund money owed with the respect to their customers’ household WEEE collection obligations. A shortfall of over a million pounds arose in 2017.

The compliance scheme’s director (Vincent Francis Eckerman) stated that the issues had arisen due to problems with suppliers.

Penalty

Northern Compliance was ordered to pay £50,900 in compensation to the WEEE Compliance Fee Fund. The company’s authorisation to operate a WEEE compliance scheme was revoked and the business is no longer trading.

Vincent Francis Eckerman was ordered to pay a £2,295 fine with a £170 victim surcharge and £1,000 court costs.