Waste and Resource Efficiency
The Act allows the Government to require producers to pay the full net cost of managing their products at end of life to incentivise them to design their products with sustainability in mind; with the aim of ultimately reducing consumption of raw materials.
The Act introduces a new legislative framework to deliver the Government’s waste commitments as set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy 2018.
There are new powers and amendments to existing environmental legislation (the Environment Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the EPA 1990)) relating to waste and resource efficiency. The amendments cover myriad aspects of wider waste legislation and businesses will need to monitor the introduction of regulations that may be relevant to their operations.
Producer responsibility
Producer responsibility is the means by which businesses who place in-scope products or materials on the market are obliged to take greater responsibility for those products or materials, including once they have become waste. The Act reinforces the existing waste hierarchy by allowing obligations to be placed on producers in relation to the re-use, redistribution, recovery and recycling of such products. The changes also clarify that producer responsibility obligations can extend to the prevention of waste and redistribution of products, making it clear that action can be taken on food waste. These provisions are in force.
The Act allows the relevant national authority (being the Secretary of State for England, Welsh Ministers, Scottish Ministers, or the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, as the case may be) to make regulations about producer responsibility obligations and their enforcement. Earlier producer responsibility measures in the 1995 Act and the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 are repealed.
The Act allows the Government to require producers to pay the full net cost of managing their products at end of life to incentivise them to design their products with sustainability in mind; with the aim of ultimately reducing consumption of raw materials.
Resource efficiency
The Act empowers the relevant national authority to make regulations to set requirements for manufacturers and producers to provide information about the resource efficiency of their (non-energy related) products. The Government’s aim is to drive change towards products that are more durable, repairable and recyclable. These provisions complement existing mandatory product standards for energy-related products.
Single-use items
The Climate Change Act 2008 already provides for charging for the supply of single-use carrier bags and as set out in the Explanatory Notes to the Act, the introduction of a 5p plastic bag charge in England in 2015 has resulted in a 90% decrease in plastic bag sales by main supermarket retailers. The Act allows for regulations to be made to introduce charges for any single-use item in England and Wales (and any single use plastic item in Northern Ireland).
The Act also amends the Climate Change Act 2008 in England allowing for regulations to be made to require sellers of single use carrier bags to register with an administrator. The regulations may also make provision about applications for registration, the period of registration, the cancellation of registration, and the payment of registration fees.
Deposit return schemes
In a bid to further reduce littering, new provisions enables relevant national authorities to make regulations to establish deposit return schemes, requiring consumers to pay an up-front deposit on the purchase of an item (such as a canned or bottled drink) which is then redeemed on return of the used item.
The provisions relating to resource efficiency, single use items, and deposit return schemes are already in force in England, Wales and Scotland.
Waste crime
The Act seeks to modernise the waste crime regulatory framework through the introduction of electronic waste tracking to help prevent waste crime and ensure regulators can take effective enforcement action. In addition, the Act enlarges powers under the EPA 1990 to prohibit or restrict wa ste imports and exports through the use of regulations to control imports and exports of waste including the transit of waste for export. This replaces powers previously available in the European Communities Act 1972.
Littering enforcement
Amendments to the EPA 1990 are introduced to improve the proportionality and fairness of enforcement against littering, as part of the continued delivery of the Litter Strategy for England.
Separation and recycling of waste
The Act inserts into the EPA 1990 new provisions concerning the separation of waste for recycling. These set out a set of materials that must be generally collected individually separated from all households and businesses in England, including food waste. This clarifies some confusion and discrepancy between various local authorities; whilst the EPA 1990 conferred obligations on local authorities to collect household waste (and, over time, was amended to include the separate collection of some recyclable materials), not all local authorities collect the same range of materials.
For example, recyclable household waste (defined to refer to specific recyclable waste streams being glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste and garden waste) is to be collected separately from other household waste for recycling or composting as individual streams unless certain exceptions apply. These include that separate collection is either: (a) not technically or economically practicable; or (b) has no significant environmental benefit. The dry recyclable waste streams must never be mixed with food or garden waste streams and food waste collection must take place at least once a week. The Secretary of State may add further recyclable waste streams.
Regulations on hazardous waste
Amendments are included to the EPA 1990 to enable the relevant national authority to make regulations on hazardous waste which take effect (in respect of England and Wales) on 24 January 2022. This replaces powers previously available in the European Communities Act 1972 and ensures that existing legislation can continue to be updated to provide controls on the management of hazardous wastes and includes the potential provision of civil sanctions.
As the bulk of changes to existing waste legislation are to be achieved through the introduction of regulations, there is a lot more to come in this space.
The Act seeks to modernise the waste crime regulatory framework through the introduction of electronic waste tracking to help prevent waste crime and ensure regulators can take effective enforcement action.
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