Waste Management (Hansard, 31 March 1999)

§ Mr. Meacher

The proposals set out in the consultation paper issued by my Department, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office on 2 April 1998 were generally welcomed by both industry and the Environmental Agencies. Having analysed the responses, we intend to proceed with the proposed amendments to the Special Waste Regulations, together with some further minor changes to the format of the consignment note and to the schedule under which carrier's notify movements of multiple loads—aimed at assisting monitoring and enforcement. In response to representations from business, we also intend to amend the Regulations to enable registers of Special waste to be retained in exceptional cases at sites other than those from which special waste has been removed, subject to consent by the local Environment Agency. Two consequential changes will also be made. First, to update references in the 767W Regulations to the latest versions of the Approved Supply List and Approved Classification and Labelling Guide. Secondly, the Government's powers to set fees in respect of Special waste will be repealed, in order to enable the Agencies to utilise powers to set charges under the Environment Act 1995.

A number of respondents to the consultation exercise said that lower fees should apply to wastes being recycled or recovered. Although it is not feasible to consider this issue as part of the current exercise, the Environment Agencies will in the longer term be reviewing the fees for Special waste in the context of making a charging scheme. This would be subject to consultation and subsequent approval by the Government. Later this year, it is also intended to undertake a general review of the Regulations.

Following advice from the Environmental Agencies, we also intend to proceed with a small number of adjustments to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 aimed at encouraging the recycling or recovery of Special waste. Exemptions from licensing will be provided, subject to various conditions, to enable:

i. storage of up to 23,000 litres of unused (waste) household paint pending re-use;
ii. laundering of up to 250 tonnes of waste textiles contaminated with oil, together with associated storage;
iii. storage of up to 5 tonnes of nickel cadmium or nickel metal hydride batteries and up to 10 tonnes of lead acid batteries pending recovery;
iv. storage of up to 23,000 litres of silver-bearing waste from printing or photographic processing pending recovery.

The consultation paper additionally proposed that the existing exemption for operations recovering silver from waste should be extended to include Special waste. There was very little support for this proposal and strong arguments against it which we have discussed with the Environment Agency in the context of ensuring proper protection for the environment and human health. As a consequence we have decided not to proceed. The Government have been considering the introduction of regulations to set standards for oil storage installation on which an announcement is planned later this year. The proposal in the consultation paper to amend the exemption for temporary storage of Special waste to include a separate limit for waste oil will be considered in the context of that announcement.

A further announcement will be made when the amending Regulations for England are ready to be laid before Parliament. As a devolved matter, the amendments for Scotland and Wales will be for consideration by the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales.