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Proposals for Amendments to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations: A Consultation Paper

CHAPTER 3 — PROPOSED NEW PRESCRIPTIONS FOR MOBILE PLANT

General

3.1 Section 35(2) of the 1990 Act makes provision for two types of waste management licence:

• site licences which authorise activities involving controlled waste in or on specified land; and
• mobile plant licences which authorise activities involving the treatment or disposal of controlled waste by means of mobile plant.

3.2 Section 29(10) of the 1990 Act enables Scottish Ministers to make Regulations prescribing descriptions of plant that are to be treated, or not treated, as mobile plant for the purposes of waste management licensing.

Existing List of Prescribed Mobile Plant

3.3 The Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 contain the descriptions of plant that can obtain a mobile plant licence. Since the introduction of the regulations in 1994, the list has been amended to include additional prescriptions¹¹. The current list is as follows:

1. an incinerator which is an exempt incinerator for the purposes of Section 5.1 of Schedule 1 to the 1991 Regulations¹²;

2. plant for —

(i) the recovery by filtration or heat treatment of waste oil from electrical equipment; or

(ii) the destruction by de-chlorination of waste polychlorinated biphenyls or terphenyls (PCBs or PCTs);

3. plant for the vitrification of waste;

4. plant for the treatment by microwave of clinical waste:

5. plant for the treatment of waste soil.

3.4 Provision for the licensing of mobile plant needs to be forward-looking to allow for new developments in mobile plant technology. However, only one type of licensable mobile plant was expected to be in use when the licensing system was introduced in 1994. The list of prescribed mobile plant has been extended progressively as new mobile plant has been developed.

3.5 The advantage of prescription as a mobile plant is that the operator need only apply for one mobile plant licence rather that having to apply for a site licence for each location at which the plant operates. Prescription as mobile plant does not remove the need for a licence to be obtained, and the fact that a particular type of plant has not been prescribed as mobile plant does not mean that a particular method of treating or recycling waste cannot be carried out.

3.6 The Executive have received representations from organisations since the last amendment to the prescribed list of mobile plants, along with advice and recommendations from SEPA, proposing that the prescribed list be amended to include new applications of mobile plant.

3.7 The prescriptive list of mobile plants has meant that amendments to the list are required when new mobile plants are developed that cannot be classified within the existing list. Amendments are time consuming and costly and should be minimised where possible. We propose, therefore, to make the new prescriptions as broad as possible to allow for future innovation in mobile plants, and to allow SEPA greater discretion in their assessment of each case. This will reduce the need for future amendments. Comments are invited on the proposals detailed below.

Proposed New Prescriptions

3.8 "Plant for the de-watering of muds, sludges, soils and dredgings".

The purpose of this prescription is to allow for the licensing of mobile plant to blend, de-water and stabilise all types of sludges, soils and pressed cake, particularly contaminated dredgings and sewage sludge. For environmental and efficiency reasons, the processing typically takes place within the curtilage of the site of production or on the banks of the immediately adjacent waterway.

3.9 "Clinical/Medical Waste Treatment Plants".

It is proposed that this provision should replace the existing prescription "plant for the treatment by microwave of clinical waste".

This broader prescription will enable the treatment of most categories of clinical waste, including the chemical disinfection of medical waste and the sterilisation of medical waste. This will enable the waste to be subsequently disposed in a safe manner.

3.10 "Plant for the treatment by lime stabilisation of sludge".

This prescription will cover mobile plant which is designed to stabilise sludges (and remove pathogens from sewage sludges) by the mixing or blending of lime. The sludges include sewage sludge and food processing wastes. The resultant treated sludge will be subject to different requirements depending on the type of sludge input.

3.11 "Plant for the treatment of contaminated material, substances or products, for the purpose of remedial action with respect to land or controlled waters".

We wish to promote and encourage innovative treatment of contaminated materials by allowing mobile plant licensing for contaminated land remediation. This will also cover the remediation of controlled waters, which includes groundwater remediation. SEPA currently licence mobile plant used for remediation of contaminated land under Regulation 12 (1)(e) "treatment of waste soil", adopting a broad definition of ‘waste soil’. SEPA, however, foresees future difficulties with this approach due to inconsistency with other legislation. As a result, we are proposing a specific prescription for remediation of contaminated soil activities.

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