In this issue:
- Defra grants £10m for AD demonstration projects
- Landfill Tax Consultation
- Waste becomes product earlier
- Waste and Renewable Resources Survey
Our specialist waste and renewable resources sector team, including lawyers and planning consultants, provides a complete range of services for the waste and renewable resources industry.
In this edition, we will look at some of the issues which might affect your business including Defra's Anaerobic Digestion Programme, the Landfill Tax Consultation and the new Environment Agency classification of 'recovered' materials.
We are hosting a Breakfast Seminar on 26 June with Charles
Hendry Esq MP, Shadow Minister for Energy as the keynote speaker,
and he will be talking about the Energy Challenge we are facing in
the UK. Delegate places for our Breakfast Seminar are free so
please book your place as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Please
click here for further information about the
seminar.
We are also conducting a survey and would like to find out your
view on the energy challenge issues. The results of the survey
would be announced at the Breakfast Seminar on 26 June.
I hope you find this eBulletin useful and interesting.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions about any other
information that you would like to see in the eBulletin or any
other way in which we can improve it.
DEFRA GRANTS £10M FOR AD DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced this week that five
anaerobic digestion projects across the country will share
£10m in grants under Defra's Anaerobic Digestion
Programme. The grants are made to help with the cost of
construction and will be administered by the Waste and Resources
Action Programme (WRAP).
The grants are made as part of wider plans announced this [last]
week to tackle food and packaging waste - last year the UK produced
20 million tonnes of food waste and 10.7 million tonnes of
packaging waste.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) breaks down organic matter such as food
waste and animal manure to produce biogas, diverting waste from
landfill and producing a renewable energy source for power and in
some cases heat and transport.
Defra considered that the successful applicants each demonstrated
cutting edge technology, which will help highlight the benefits of
AD to a wide range of industries. For example, one of the
successful bidders, Biocycle South Shropshire, will use its share
of the grant to improve its existing AD plant by installing a new
technology which breaks down cell structures prior to digestion,
increasing gas yields by up to 15%. The other successful bidders
were:
- Blackmore Vale Dairies;
- GWE Biogas Ltd;
- Staples Vegetables;
- United Utilities and National Grid
DMH Stallard is currently providing legal and planning advice to a
large dairy farm in Cornwall on its application to install an
anaerobic digester at its 1000 acre farm.
Some in the industry might question why there is an apparent
preference on the part of Government to fund AD projects whilst the
rolling out of other technology such as gasification is held up for
lack of finance.
LANDFILL TAX CONSULTATION
HM Treasury and HMRC have launched a joint consultation document
on changes to Landfill Tax (LFT). LFT is widely credited with
creating a major shift in behaviour towards recycling and it is
said that over the last five years, 33.8 million tonnes of rubbish
which would otherwise have been sent to landfill has been recycled
saving £1.5Bn.
The aim of the tax is to encourage the disposal of less waste; to
recover more value from waste through recycling and composting, and
to stimulate moves to more environmentally friendly waste
management methods. It is seen as the key driver of the UK's
move away from using landfill disposal and the main hope of meeting
European waste targets under the Landfill Directive in 2010, 2013
and 2020.
However, concern is now being expressed at the proposed
changes.
It has been pointed our that whilst the increase in tax is mooted,
together with a review of the materials likely to attract the
higher rate of tax, there is no indication as to how the tax raised
will be fed back into the industry and local authorities.
There is concern that Landfill Tax which was originally said to be
"tax neutral" and used to fund reductions in NIC for
businesses will become just another stealth tax, like road tax.
This is echoed by the Local Government Association, which is urging
the government to ring fence the tax receipts, so that they can be
applied to provide improved recycling facilities.
Suspicion that the proposed changes are more related to "tax
take" than achieving waste targets, may be fuelled by the
consultation paper itself, which refers in some detail to the
recent Court of Appeal decision which held that certain uses of
materials at landfill sites were exempt from LFT, and the
legislative changes which are now required to reverse this
decision.
DMH Stallard will be responding to the Consultation Paper
reflecting the views of attendees to our seminar on 26th June, when
the key note speaker will be Charles Hendry, Shadow Minister for
Energy.
For more details, search 'Landfill Tax' on
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
WASTE BECOMES PRODUCT EARLIER
The Environment Agency (EA) recently announced a change in the
point at which waste materials are classed by them as
'recovered' and are therefore recognized by the EA as being
outside of waste controls.
Previously, waste management controls were sometimes applied by the
EA until the product had been dispatched to the customer
– the "certainly of use" test. However,
following an EA briefing note released in April, which had
immediate effect, the EA will now apparently always consider
processed material as product as soon as all of the other criteria
in the relevant Quality Protocol have been met.
This means that there will be no distinction in the EA's
position between processed material which meets a relevant Quality
Protocol and is being stored and that which has been sold or
supplied. The recovered product must be stored in a way that
conforms with other planning and environmental requirements and, if
the material is stored for a very long time with little prospect of
its being used, it may be regarded as having been discarded and
become waste again.
The Waste Protocols Project, a joint EA and WRAP initiative, has,
since 2006, been working to provide certainty on when a waste
product is classed as recovered and can be reused as a product,
avoiding unnecessary landfill or the need for a permit to use it.
It has, so far, issued Quality Protocols defining this point for
compost, flat glass and non packaging plastic. Prior to that
project there was and is a WRAP Quality Protocol for aggregates
which the EA generally recognises. Nine further Protocols are in
development for other product types including, tyre-derived rubber,
anaerobic digestate, processed fuel oil and, most importantly,
soils.
The Quality Protocol for soils is eagerly awaited by the industry.
DMH Stallard is advising clients in a number of cases where the
client's position that their processed soils have become a
product is being challenged or investigated by the EA. In a further
case we are acting for a client company that is being prosecuted by
the EA for allegedly keeping waste without a permit and the
company's defence is that the material being processed soils
was no longer waste and had become a product. That defence is
supported by two leading experts. Preliminary issues of law are due
to be heard in the Crown Court later this year.
WASTE AND RENEWABLE RESOURCES SURVEY
Complete the survey and win a bottle of
wine!
The White Paper on Energy published in May 2007 highlighted the two
long-term energy challenges including tackling climate change and
ensuring clean and affordable energy.
We would like to find out your view on the energy challenge and
renewable resources. The results of the survey would be announced
at the Breakfast Seminar on 26 June with Charles Hendry Esq MP,
Shadow Minister for Energy as the keynote speaker.
This survey will take about 3 minutes to complete, please click the
link below to view the survey:
http://www.smart-survey.co.uk/v.asp?i=12188elmuq
Thank you for taking the time to read and complete this survey. We
will add all completed surveys into a prize draw and the winner
will receive a bottle of wine of their choice from our friends at
St Martin
Vintners, up to the value of £45.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.