The Scottish Government

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Scottish Executive Environment Group

PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENT TO THE
WASTE MANAGEMENT LICENSING REGULATIONS
TO IMPLEMENT NEW COTC AWARDS

A Consultation Paper

December 2002
Paper 2002/33

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Submission of Responses

Background

Changes to Waste Management Regulations 1994

• Table 1, Regulation 4

• Transitional Arrangements for Managers of Composting Facilities

• Transitional Arrangements for Landfill Sites to be Reclassified to Non-Hazardous from Inert

• Recognition of Qualifications Obtained in other Member States

ANNEX A -Draft amending Regulation Table 1

ANNEX B -Consultation List

Introduction

1. The purpose of this consultation is to set out proposed amendments to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (WMLR) 1994. These have been necessitated by changes to the qualifications leading to waste management Certificates of Technical Competence (COTC), contained in Table 1 of the Regulations.

Submission of Responses

2. Comments on the issues set out in this document should be sent by 31 January 2003 to:

Peter Brown
The Scottish Executive
Rural Affairs Department
SEPA Sponsorship and Waste Unit
1-J(North)
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH66QQ

Tel:- 0131 244 0237
e-mail:- Peter.Brown@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

3. Respondents are invited to give their name and, where relevant, which organisation they represent.

The Executive may wish to publish responses to this consultation paper in due course or to deposit them in their libraries. If this is done, all responses will be published or deposited, unless a respondent specifically asks that his or her response should be treated as confidential. Confidential responses will, however, be included in any statistical summary of numbers of comments received or views expressed.

Comments from any interested party are invited.

Background

4. The Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended) (WMLR 94) prescribe the qualifications and experience necessary for a person to be technically competent to manage the activities authorised by a waste management licence. These are prescribed in Regulations 4, Regulation 5 and Table 1 of the WMLR 94. Successful completion of the qualifications leads to the issue of a Certificate of Technical Competence, by the Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board (WAMITAB).

5 WAMITAB utilises the Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ) scheme in Scotland as the "vehicle" by which waste managers demonstrate their competence in certain topics and hence they can be used, as part of the portfolio of qualifications needed to achieve the appropriate COTC award. .

6. The accreditation body, The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) approves SVQ's, for a period of 5 years. The accreditation for the current qualifications runs out at the end of March 2003.

During the last few years the industry, lead by WAMITAB have produced a new series of SVQs.

7. It is not the purpose of this document to consult on the revised Table 1 qualifications themselves. That is the Industry's responsibility and WAMITAB, the awarding body, has already carried out industry wide consultation during the period of development of the new qualifications.

The purpose of this consultation is to highlight the changes required to the WMLR 94 as a result of the new qualifications, and to distribute the COTC proposals to those non- industry organisations which, might wish to comment.

8 It has been necessary to reduce the consultation period on the proposed amendments from the customary 12 weeks to approximately 6 weeks. Shortening the consultation period should aid the implementation timetable. Depending on responses received from consultees which, might necessitate changes to the amendments, we aim to lay the amendments before Parliamentary business closes at the end of March 2003 and bring it into force at the earliest opportunity thereafter.

Changes to WMLR 94

9. The main proposed changes to the Regulations are:

• A revised Table 1, Regulation 4.

• COTC transitional provisions for managers of composting facilities.

• Changes to the terminology used to classify waste as hazardous, non hazardous or inert.

• Mention of the fact that under current UK Regulations a system is in place which allows for mutual recognition of qualifications gained in other EU member states

• New definitions(Table 1)

Table 1 Regulation 4

10. Changes to the system allow a more flexible approach to the qualifications. The industry has now developed a core and option approach to allow compilation of a portfolio of suitable qualifications. This will be better able to match the necessary qualifications with the waste management activities.

The attached copy of Table 1contains the details of the new qualifications.

Transitional Arrangements for Mangers of Composting Facilities

11. The composting industry identified a need for a COTC certificate specifically to cover their facilities. In order to allow time for managers to gain the COTC certificate the Regulations will set a transitional period of two years.

Transitional Arrangements For Landfill Sites to be Reclassified to Non-Hazardous from Inert.

12. It is likely that many waste facilities formally classified as inert will now be defined as non-hazardous. The amended regulations will allow a transition period of between one and two years for managers to gain appropriate qualification.

Recognition of Qualifications Obtained in Other Member States

13. In amending the Regulations to take into account changes to the COTC qualifications, the opportunity is being taken to amend them to make it clear that similar qualifications obtained in EU member states are recognised.

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 amendment of the 1994 Regulations would be appropriate to show that the UK does recognise qualifications of other EU nations.

THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
DECEMBER 2002

ANNEX A

Table 1

Notes to table 1:
The following certificates ceased to be awarded on 9 October 9 1997: A, B, C, N, O, Z, AA, BB, and CC.
The following certificates will cease to be awarded on 31 March 2003: D, E, F, P, Q, R, DD, EE, FF, GG, and HH.

Table 2

In Table 1 above -

"civic amenity site" means a place provided under section 1 of the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 or by virtue of s51(1)(b) of the 1990 Act;

"clinical waste" means-

any waste which consists wholly or partly of human or animal tissue, blood or other body fluids, excretions, drugs or other pharmaceutical products, swabs or dressings, or syringes, needles or other sharp instruments, being waste which unless rendered safe may prove hazardous to any person coming into contact with it; and

any other waste arising from medical, nursing, dental, veterinary, pharmaceutical or similar practice, investigation, treatment, care, teaching or research, or the collection of blood for transfusion, being waste which may cause infection to any person coming into contact with it;

"closed landfill" means a landfill site where-

there is a waste management license authorising the disposal of waste but where the disposal of waste has ceased in respect of the entire site ; or

closure or after-care procedures have commenced for the whole or part of the site under new landfill regulations (currently at consultation).

"hazardous waste" means

any waste which is hazardous waste for the purposes of Commission Decision 2001/532/EC( ¹)(as amended);

is a medicinal product, as defined in section 130 of the Medicines Act 1968 (meaning of "medicinal product" etc), of a description, or falling within a class, specified in an order under section 58 of that Act (medicinal products on prescription only)

waste which contains or is contaminated by asbestos, whether or not that waste is household waste ; and

radioactive waste to which neither the Radioactive Substances Act 1993( ²) nor any exemption under section 15 thereof applies;

"inert waste" means waste that does not undergo any significant physical, chemical or biological transformations. Inert waste will not dissolve, burn or otherwise physically or chemically react, biodegrade or adversely affect other matter with which it comes into contact in a way likely to give rise to environmental pollution or harm to health. The total leachability and pollutant content of the waste and ecotoxicity of the leachate must be insignificant, and in particular not endanger the quality of surface water and/or groundwater;

"landfill site" means a waste disposal site for the deposit of waste onto or into land (i.e. underground), including:

-internal waste disposal sites (i.e. landfill where a producer of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of production), and

-a permanent site (i.e. more than one year) which is used for temporary storage of waste, but excluding

-facilities where waste is unloaded in order to permit its preparation for further transport for recovery, treatment or disposal elsewhere, and

-storage of waste prior to disposal for a period less than one year, and

-a site used solely for the burial of dead domestic pets;

"non-hazardous waste" means any waste which is not covered by the definition of hazardous waste;

"single waste stream sites" means a waste disposal site where the producer of all of the waste disposed of at that site is also the holder of the waste management licence for that site; and

"transfer station" means a facility where waste is unloaded in order to permit its preparation for further transport for treatment, keeping or disposal elsewhere."

Annex B

Consultation List

Conservative Party
Green Party
Labour Party
Liberal Democrats
Scottish National Party
Scottish Socialist Party
Dennis Canavan MSP
Friends of the Earth
Blairingone and Saline Action Group
CBI Scotland
Crofters Commission
Farm and Wildlife Advisory Group
NFU Scotland
Scottish Landowners Federation
Scottish Agricultural College

Small changes in the way we perform everyday tasks can have huge impacts on Scotland's environment.

Walking short distances rather than using the car, or being careful not to overfill the kettle are just two positive steps we can all take.

This butterfly represents the beauty and fragility of Scotland's environment. The motif will be utilised extensively by the Scottish Executive and its partners in their efforts to persuade people they can do a little to change a lot.

Footnotes

(1) OJ No L ......... as amended by Commission Decisions 2001/118/EC (OJ No L......) and 2001/119/EC (OJ No L ........) and Council Decision 2001/532/EC (OJ No L........).
(2 ) 1993 c.12.