Changes to the waste exemptions regime will protect legitimate waste industry companies. This light-touch style of regulation allows for the registration of some low-risk, small-scale waste activities. However, we know that some waste exemptions have been frequently used by unscrupulous operators to conceal unlawful waste activities from regulatory scrutiny while presenting an illusion of legitimacy. The…
A recent change to the continuing competence regime appears to have been made without any formal announcement. We first came across the change in an Environmental permit application to Natural Resources Wales when the clients Continuing Competence Certificate for Hazardous Waste Treatment was rejected for a non-hazardous treatment permit application. The officer referred to the…
The Environment Agency has told its staff to “shut down” and ignore reports of low-impact pollution events because it does not have enough money to investigate them, according to a leaked internal report. Exceptions to the rule will be pollution incidents caused by a regulated site or a water company, says the briefing, although it…