The UK Government announces reforms to waste carriers, brokers and dealers regulations to tackle waste crime.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says it will update key regulations for people and businesses involved in transporting and managing waste.
The terminology is set to change from waste carriers, brokers and dealers (CBD) to ‘waste controllers’ and ‘waste transporters’.
Existing registrations will also be replaced by a ‘standard rules’ environmental permit or a registered exemption.
There will be three permit types: waste controller only, waste transporter only, and a combined waste controller-transporter permit.
The aim of the changes is to provide a wider level of regulatory tools, greater flexibility around enforcement, increased checks at the application stage and funding for compliance monitoring activities.
The proposals will also join up the CBD regime with the other main regulatory system for the resources and waste sector.
Defra says the current system of registration for CBD makes it hard for regulators to target high-risk waste operators properly.
Enforcement options are ‘limited’ and the Environment Agency can only refuse or revoke registrations if the set criteria are met.
The current system also does not differentiate between small and large operators, or the risks posed by the types and quantities of waste handled or managed by them, Defra says.
This policy paper builds on the government’s recently announced crackdown by giving councils new powers to seize and destroy vehicles used by waste criminals.
Commenting, David Gudgeon, Head of External Affairs at Reconomy Connect, said: “With waste crime estimated to cost the economy £1 billion annually, stronger powers are essential to clamp down on rogue operators causing serious environmental and economic harm in local communities.
“This policy paper builds on the government’s recently announced crackdown by giving councils new powers to seize and destroy vehicles used by waste criminals.”
As part of the new terminology, transporters are operators who are instructed by a controller to move waste between locations without input on the end destination and classification, such as hauliers, contractors, and delivery drivers.
Controllers are those who organise waste collection, its transportation or end destination, make arrangements for its assessment and ensure it has been classified, arrange the recovery or disposal of waste on behalf of others, and buy or sell waste.
Controller-transporters are those who act as a controller but also transport the waste, such as waste sites that control and transport waste.
Defra is also introducing mandatory technical competence for permit holders and any nominated persons within a business.
This, alongside the proposed digital waste tracking service, Defra says, will increase compliance with regulation, reduce waste crime within the industry and create a more level playing field for legitimate waste operators.