Standard rules consultation: revision of standard rules for non-hazardous sludge biological, chemical and physical treatment site (SR2008 No19)

Overview

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 allow us to make standard rules to reduce the administrative burden on business while maintaining environmental standards.

This consultation proposes:

• Withdrawing and Archiving Standard Rule sets

The associated Generic Risk Assessment (GRA) has also been reviewed with respect to the proposed changes.

Before we do this, we must consult for a period of 3 months to allow the public, industry and anyone else with an interest to comment on the proposals. We must provide details and justification on why these changes are being made.

We propose to change the standard rules sets relating to biowaste treatment to:

• reduce incidents caused by the biowaste sector, including fires and odour nuisance
• improve poor performance
• improve contribution to a more sustainable and circular economy
• contribute to reducing the impact on climate change
• remove old rule sets that are not being utilised

By doing this we will limit negative impacts on human health, communities and the environment.

Further details of how the proposed changes will meet these objectives can be found below:

Why your views matter

Who this will be of interest to?

We think this consultation will be of particular interest to:

Operators of the non-hazardous sludge biological, chemical and physical treatment site standard rules set: This is your opportunity to ensure the that the revised rules work for you and your industry as well as providing the necessary protection to the environment and human health.

Other operators, trade associations and businesses: this is your opportunity to ensure that the revised rules work for you and your industry as well as providing the necessary protection to the environment and human health.

Other regulators, the public, community groups and non-governmental organisations with an interest in environmental issues: this is your opportunity to ensure that the revised rules provide the necessary protection to the environment and human health, whilst still being useful to industry.

Existing holders

If you currently operate under a standard rules included within this consultation, as a result of any changes made, you will be required to take one of the following actions:

1. Upgrade your site to meet the new rules set standards.
2. Apply to vary your activity to a bespoke permit.
3. Apply to surrender the permit.

Important: Even if an operator has ceased or never commenced operations, subsistence fees will continue to accrue until their permit is formally surrendered. See: Natural Resources Wales / Apply to surrender (give up) all or part of a waste permit

The following headings outline the proposed changes along with the rationale behind them. We suggest that you compare the current Standard Rules sets against the proposed drafts within the links section of this consultation.