Waste exemptions from environmental permitting

[glallotments]

Just wondered if anyone had noticed the proposals for the above.
I had my attention drawn to this last week and had a quick look. http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/waste-exemption-review/consultation.pdf It seems that up until now if organisations have been exempt from needing a permit to recycle or dispose of waste no action has been required.

The proposal is to charge organisations that are exempt, a £50 fee renewable every three years to confirm they are exempt. It seems that you would need to pay for a permit to say that you don't need a permit!! Sort of like paying a fee if you don't drive to state that you don't need a driving licence!

It seems that composting will come under this banner. Home composters who create compost in their gardens for their own use will not be required to register but there is no mention of allotment sites or schools. I sent in my comments just in time, as the deadline was yesterday, asking if this would apply to allotments but the only response was that my comments had been noted etc. etc.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[Colin Miles]

Having read through those parts of the document which relates to composting, I don't think that you have anything to worry about as regards the amounts, though I am not clear as to whether it means that allotments will have to be registered - in which case it would seem to mean an additional £50 over 3 years which the council would presumable pay - and there by charge allotment holders.

Extract:
5.76 The proposed exemption has been split into two quantity limits;
i. 40 tonnes on site at any one time for organisations composting their own waste on site for use on that site; or
ii. 25 tonnes on site at any one time for organisations importing the waste and/or exporting the resulting compost.
This move will mean that community composting groups will more comfortably fit within the rules of the exemption in the latter category.

[glallotments]

"though I am not clear as to whether it means that allotments will have to be registered"

That's the bit that I'm not clear about. £50 doesn't seem much but it is if your budget is as tight as ours - on top of which we are trying to raise funding to increase our security. As I said paying to confirm you don't need to pay a licence fee seems a bit strange. I have written to DEFRA for clarification - it will be interesting to see if they respond!

As each allotment holder has his/her own compost heap just wonder if it would mean £50 each plot holder or for the site as a whole regardless of the size of the site. Our plots cost nearly £60 each a year to rent and many tenants are on benefits so I can't see us being able to increase what plot holders each pay.

[Geoff]

What about transporting the magic amber liquid to allotments?

[glallotments]

What about transporting the magic amber liquid to allotments?

Sorry I'm a bit dim - explain!

[alan refail]

Geoff is taking the pee

[glallotments]

I see now - it's obviously a man thing!
If it was transported though it would probably need a permit!

[alan refail]

I see now - it's obviously a man thing!

Don't let Chantal hear you say that

Long ago she started a long-running thread on the subject

[richard p]

if the amber liquid is going to be used as fertiliser or a componant of compost its not being wasted so why should you need a waste transport liscence to transport it? afterall if you didnt put it in the bottle till after you got to the allotment you wouldnt need one.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I don't see a problem, if you are using something that is yours (prunings - or pee) and making something that you are going to use, (compost) then it isn't waste is it? Surely it only applies to what is thrown away and has to be got rid of by somebody else either by composting or some other means.

Our allotment site doesn't have a skip or anything for disposing of anything so we just either use it on the site or take it home or to the dumpit site.
If you don't tell anyone how will they know what you are doing?

If the council provides a skip you usually pay a charge through your rent, so it should be the council's responsibility to deal with the disposal.

Funny how fly tipping has increased since businesses have had to pay for getting rid of waste. It seems as though they don't want people to be environmentally friendly.

[Johnboy]

Hi Plumpudding,
As reported in Horticulture Week a couple of weeks ago the people who are going to be really affected are Community Groups and Schools and allotments were not mentioned in the article. It is true that anything you compost is classified as waste and comes within the broad aspect of the ruling.
Within the act Horse and FYM are classified as 'toxic waste!' and how the word toxic comes into the equation I am not sure.
The trouble is that DEFRA have never known the difference between farting and tearing their arses!
JB.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hi Johnboy, Your assessment of DEFRA just about sums up most government bodies I think.

Dad's philosophy seemed a good idea - "Behave in a responsible way, mind your own business, and don't have anything to do with authority in any shape or form or common sense will go out of the window"

[gloworm]

You shouldn't poke a sleeping Tiger ! Defra is best left sleeping, but I suppose it can't even do that right. I can remember when it was called the "War Ag" it was no better then, making us plough everything in sight.

[Johnboy]

Hi Gloworm,
I can remember when if a verge was more than 6ft wide it had to be ploughed and ditches piped so that crops could be sown with Wheat. Today's ruling is that when clearing ditches the spoil must remain on site as it is classified as polluted soil. I now have a pile of soil which cuts the visibility for me exiting my property to 40ft instead of 100ft.
I moved the soil to the opposite bank and the 'powers that be' tell me I am likely to be prosecuted. I told them to go ahead. That was last year and so far I haven't heard even a whisper. The council contractors recently enlarged the run-off to the non existent ditch and piled the soil up again.
I asked the workmen to transfer it to the opposite bank and they said that the soil had to stay where it was. I have explained to the council that it is dangerous and that it will block my vision. They sent a person out who took time to tell me why it cannot be moved. It all emanates from DEFRA but it seems that all councils put their own interpretation on the ruling. In Shropshire about a mile away from me they take the soil back to the depot and it is checked and if OK sent out to do infill jobs. Here they re-dig the ditches and the soil falls back into the ditch with heavy rain and that is why at present I am on an island because the roads are flooded all around me. The main road outside me is closed to traffic. I have just returned from the local village using my tractor. With DEFRA rulings just about everything to do with the countryside is changing and certainly not for the better!
JB.

[gloworm]

I have a sewage plant (not a septic tank or Cesspit) to my house & it used to be the local farmer could empty it occasionally & spread it on his field. This only cost a bottle or so at Christmas, but now we have to have a discharge cert or something & who knows where it goes at a cost of over £100. Just remembered the full name of War Ag: "The War Agricultural Executive Committee" now called Defra.