Defra - Environmental Impacts of Spreading Waste to Land
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has issued a report from work providing evidence on the extent and impacts of spreading waste on land. The study informs policy options for appropriate levels of regulation and controls to mitigate environmental risk.
The project, undertaken by WRc, is part of the current review of exemptions, the aim of which is to provide a more risk-based and proportionate approach to the regulation of waste recovery and disposal operations, to complement the proposed new environmental permitting and compliance regime.
The study focussed on spreading practices relevant to the application of waste to land (Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007 Schedule 3 paragraph 7) and examined which activities should be covered by exemptions and which should be covered by permits to provide additional regulatory control. It assessed how this boundary could change to reflect the goal of a more risk based approach to exemptions.
The risks were evaluated on the basis of waste composition, soil characteristics and application rates. The analysis produced a database of 1200 sites, to which were applied some 75 different waste types. The wastes were categorised by their overall risk to the environment.
The work provides Defra with a basis on which to make a decision as to what level of future regulatory control might be necessary for each waste.
Copies of the report “The Environmental Impacts of the Activity of Spreading Waste to Land" can be found on Defra's website at: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=WR1103_8427_FRP.pdf