ESA regional meetings discuss environmental permitting regulations

Around 150 ESA Members heard from the Environment Agency on the detail and implications of the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) at ESA’s recent round of Regional meetings. The Agency noted that the EPP was essentially a ‘Better Regulation’ initiative and aimed to allow the waste industry to be regulated in a consistent and risk based way through a single permitting and compliance regime, focusing on environmental outcomes, rather than prescriptive regulation of process.

 The Agency advised that all current WML and PPC permits would automatically become ‘Environmental Permits’, with all existing conditions remaining the same. Operators would not have to reapply for permits but would have the option of obtaining a ‘Standard Permit’ for an existing, or new facility, which would be cheaper to obtain and would be faster to issue. Consolidation of permits over multiple sites would also be offered from 2009.

ESA Members welcomed the aim of reducing administrative burden, in particular the principle of ‘one site one permit’. Members noted that historically the requirement for a waste management licence and a PPC permit for different activities on the same site, had caused significant administrative and resource burdens.

Members also welcomed the overhaul of technical competence under the EPR and in particular the increased flexibility for demonstrating technical competence that the new regime would provide.

ENDS