Waste Industry Update October 2008
Deadline looms for contaminated land landfill tax exemptions
Subject to certain conditions, and provided a certificate from the HMRC has been issued, waste generated from the clean up of contaminated land, and disposed of to landfill, has always been exempt from the imposition of landfill tax. The rationale behind this exemption was to provide an incentive for the clean up of contaminated land.
Although it is Government policy to provide assistance for the clean up of contaminated land, the landfill tax exemption for waste originating from the clean up of contaminated land undermines a separate Government objective – the reduction of environmental damage from the landfilling of waste.
In a move aimed at addressing this inconsistency and to encourage non-landfill waste management options for dealing with contaminated land, such as decontaminating the waste on site, the Government has introduced the Landfill Tax (Material from Contaminated Land) (Phasing out of Exemption) Order 2008.
The Order will amend sections 43A, 43B and 54(1) of the Finance Act 1996 in order to phase out the exemption from landfill tax on the disposal of material from the clean-up of contaminated land at landfill sites, with the exemption to be completely withdrawn from 1st April 2012. In order to phase out the exemption the new Order dictates that applications for exemption certificates must be made by 1st December 2008. Any existing exemption certificates, issued following an application made before 1st December 2008, will cease to be valid from 1st April 2012.
HMRC has amended its Notice LFT2 Reclamation of contaminated land in order to inform those affected by the removal of the exemption.
The text of the new Regulations, an explanatory memorandum and the updated HMRC Notice, is available via the links below:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uksi_20082669_en.pdf
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/em/uksiem_20082669_en.pdf
Plasterboard recycling standard now available
The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have recently launched a new Publicly Available Specification (PAS) meaning that there is now a published standard for the recycling of plasterboard into quality assured gypsum.
Developed by WRAP in collaboration with industry and the British Standards Institution (BSI), PAS109:2008:
Specification for the production of recycled gypsum from waste plasterboard provides a specification for producing recycled gypsum of consistent and verifiable quality from waste plasterboard. It is the first standard to offer guidance on processing waste plasterboard.
PAS109 sets a number of minimum requirements for the production of recycled gypsum from waste plasterboard, setting out how source materials should be selected, received and handled, the specification of product grades, how the final product is to be stored, labelled, dispatched and traced, and requirements regarding quality control of the final product.
Compliance with the specification should not only enable plasterboard recyclers to produce a quality assured recycled gypsum product, but, will also inspire confidence in purchasers of PAS109 recycled gypsum that the material they are buying is a quality material with consistent specification.
Gypsum recycled from waste plasterboard is already used in a range of applications including the manufacture of new plasterboard, the manufacture of cement and in the agricultural sector as a soil treatment. As markets increase for recycled gypsum product, significant progress should be made in reducing the amounts of waste plasterboard sent to landfill.
The Publicly Available Specification together with further information on this development, is available from WRAP via the links below:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/recycling_industry/information_by_material/plasterboard/pas109_download.html
Environment Agency’s organic waste decision
A young girl, living close to a waste disposal site operated by Hinton Organics Wessex Ltd, has failed in her bid to judicially review a number of decisions taken by the Environment Agency (EA). The High Court rejected the girl’s application which concerned the alleged emission of bioaerosols, arising from the disposal and/or composting of organic waste at Hinton Organics’ waste disposal site.
Concerns among residents living near Hinton Organics resulted in the EA being invited to investigate levels of bioaerosols at and near the site. However, the EA chose not to do so. Furthermore, the EA decided to renew Hinton Organics’ permit before receiving confirmation from the local authority that Hinton Organics was operating within the ambit of relevant planning permissions. The rationality of these decisions formed the basis of the claim before the Court.
The Court found that although there were indications that odour was emanating from the site, and where there were odours emanating from the site then there may well also be bioaerosols in the air, the question was whether bioaerosols were getting into the atmosphere at a level which generates risk. The EA chose not to investigate this, taking the view that it was an entirely hypothetical problem, and having seen two separate independent risk assessments, carried out in accordance with its own practices, which showed no cause for concern.
Although it was accepted that the Agency had the power to undertake the type of investigation called for (under Section 89 of the Environment Act 1995), the Court held that there was no basis upon which it could be argued that the approach of the Agency was irrational.
With respect to the Agency’s decision to renew the permit, the Court found that the planning authority had yet to decide whether there was any breach of planning control, and had only at that stage initiated discussions in order to determine whether that was the position.
In addressing the question of whether it was arguably irrational for the EA to await the outcome of the local authority’s decision before itself deciding whether to revoke the permit, the Court held that the EA’s approach was “an entirely sensible, pragmatic and rational one” and that it was “simply not arguable to suggest that the EA had been irrational in its approach to this question”.
The text of the judgement of the High Court may be accessed via the link below:
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2008/2404.html
Funding boost for waste recycling sector
Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has launched two new funding programmes to reduce waste and promote recycling.
The Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Demonstration Programme is a £10 million scheme aimed at encouraging the development of novel commercial scale anaerobic digestion technology by providing investment funding for infrastructure and treatment capacity.
WRAP state that the fund will support between 3 and 6 projects in England which can demonstrate innovation in technology or operational processes and which also meet the programmes objectives of:
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maximising the environmental benefits from anaerobic digestion and its products;
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reducing the environmental impact of the food supply chain and water treatment infrastructure;
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maximising cost effective production of biogas; and
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maximising the opportunity for introducing biomethane into the gas grid.
The Organics Capital Grant Programme is a £16 million capital grant scheme, open to projects in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, aimed at reducing the amount of food waste sent to landfill by increasing recycling capacity. The Programme will contribute funding towards the development of food waste recycling infrastructure including in-vessel composting, anaerobic digestion and other proven technologies.
Defra too has announced £181.6 million in funding via the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Project for waste facilities in Leicestershire and the South West.
The PFI Project is expected to divert 98,000 and 293,000 tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill, in Leicestershire and the South West respectively, by 2020.
Further information on these funding initiatives may be accessed from Defra via the links below:-
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2008/081002b.htm
For further information please contact: Vincent Brown