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Ban on spreading untreated organic waste
11/03/2003
New regulations will outlaw the spreading of untreated
organic waste, it was announced today.
Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie was speaking as
amendments to the existing Waste Management Licensing
Regulations (1994) were implemented laid before Parliament,
fulfilling the Executive's pledge to address this problem.The
new Regs will come into force in 21 days time
The new rules will require blood and gut contents to be
treated before landspreading. The landspreading operator will
also have to prove agricultural benefit or ecological
improvement to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency,
before spreading can start.
SEPA will also be given powers, under certain circumstances,
to refuse to register an exemption application or remove an
exemption from the register.
The amendments also update Certificates of Technical
Competence, which demonstrate managers' competence to manage a
waste management facility, in line with industry and
legislative requirements.
Mr Finnie said:
"We are working for a cleaner and safer environment, and
this step fulfils our commitment to affected communities across
Scotland to tackle this problem.
"Foul smells, associated with spreading untreated blood and
gut contents to land, should become a thing of the past under
these new regulations.
"The regulations also allow SEPA to ensure that no harm
comes to the environment as a result of this spreading."
The new regulations will come into force in 21 days.
2Details of the consultation held to on banning the spread
of untreated organic waste, launched last December, can be
viewed at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2002/12/SEen271.aspx
3
Amendments to the Waste Management Licensing
Regulations 1994, Schedule 3, Paragraphs 7, 9 and
19(Exemptions)
The European Waste Framework Directive allows Member States
discretion to provide exemptions from full waste management
permitting (licensing) for disposal of waste at the place of
production (except hazardous wastes) and for genuine waste
recovery.
The UK-wide Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994
include a number of such exemptions. However there have been
recent allegations that of some of the exemptions are being
subject to abuse for waste disposal rather than recovery, as
intended.
There have also been a number of complaints, mainly in
relation to foul smells produced when operators spread
untreated blood and gut contents to land under such
exemption.
A number of enquiries have been undertaken recently to
investigate these allegations and complaints.
SEPA addressed the organic waste to land issue (including
untreated blood and gut contents) in their report Strategic
Review of Organic Waste Spread on Land, 1998. The Scottish
Parliament Transport and Environment Committee 4th Report 2002
on Petition from the Blairingone and Saline Action Group also
addressed the matter.
The House of Commons Select Committee Report, 1998 on
Sustainable Waste Management investigated whether controls for
spreading wastes on land were adequate to protect the
environment and health. In the light of the Select Committee
Report, UK research was subsequently commissioned to develop
more precisely the criteria that determine whether the
landspreading of particular wastes was likely to benefit
agriculture or result in ecological improvement, and provide
criteria to ensure the exemptions were not abused.
Following on from the results of these investigations,
research and public consultation, carried out at the end of
last year, the proposed amending Regulations were developed,
and incorporate the various recommendations established from
the research, investigations and consultation.
4
Amendments to the Waste Management Licensing
Regulations 1994, Regulation 4, Certificates of Technical
Competence (COTC)
Competent handling of various types of waste is critical to
safeguarding both public health and the environment. The 1994
Waste Management Licensing Regulations (WMLR) require staff in
the industry to undertake training in order to gain the
technical competence to manage activities authorised by a waste
management licence.
The new qualifications are contained in amendments to the
1994 Regulations and follow on from a public consultation
carried out at the end of last year
Changes to the qualifications detailed take account of
recent developments within the industry. These include:
The introduction of the Landfill Directive - new waste
acceptance criteria and changes in waste terminology to reflect
new requirements to classify landfills as Hazardous,
Non-Hazardous and Inert.
The effect of permitting sites under the PPC Regulations -
changes in waste terminology to include Hazardous,
Non-Hazardous and Inert.
Manager competence requirements for 'Closed Landfills' - a
new COTC for operators of closed landfills (which are no longer
controlled under a waste management licence).
Potential requirements raised by the Special Waste
Consultation Paper - current Special Waste definition requires
to be changed to Hazardous Waste.
The amending Regulations make it clear that similar
qualifications obtained in EU member states are recognised in
the UK.
(This obligation is met through the UK's implementation of
Directive 92/51/EEC, the Second General System of the Mutual
Recognition of Professional Education and Training.
The UK acknowledged in recent correspondence with the
Commission that the linkage between the 1994 Regulations and
the UK's implementation of the Directive was not as transparent
as it could be. Therefore it is appropriate to show that the UK
does recognise qualifications of other EU nations.