Waste Exemption Changes to Prevent Crime in Waste Sector

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. This is to conceal unlawful waste activities from regulatory scrutiny while presenting an illusion of legitimacy.

Proposed adjustments to the waste exemptions scheme are aimed at combating crime and poor waste performance. The amendments target the ten most commonly exploited waste exemptions, as well as forbidding waste exemptions on permitted sites and capping storage limits when several waste exemptions are presented on a site.

Reforming waste exemptions as reported in the Environment Agency blog: 4/10/2023

Our mission is to stop crime in the waste sector altogether. One of the ways we can do this is through working with the Government to improve the regulatory system to make it harder for crime to be possible.

Change to the waste exemptions regime will bring protection to legitimate businesses in the waste industry. This light-touch form of regulation allows some low-risk, small scale waste activities to be carried out under a registration scheme.

Read more:

Waste exemption changes to prevent crime in the waste sector – Creating a better place (blog.gov.uk)