New rules on agricultural waste should not be dismissed as ’rubbish’, as Ranger correspondent Graham Pipkin found out.
Waste generated by the agricultural sector has been free from waste management controls faced by other industries since the 1970s. Changes will take place in spring 2006 when controls will be extended to cover agricultural wastes. This will affect every farmer in the UK and inevitably bring additional financial burden.
The forthcoming regulations being drawn up by Defra to comply with European Community Waste directives will have two main impacts. Farmers must:
Stop putting waste onto or into a farm tip or dump (burial of waste should have stopped already)
Stop burning man-made waste such as plastics, tyres and oil in the open (cleaned plastic containers may however be burned in a drum incinerator for a further year after the start of the new controls)
Compliance with the new controls will place a number of responsibilities on the individual farmer in the form of a ‘Duty of Care’ to ensure waste is appropriately disposed of and that it does not cause pollution. The Environmental Agency (EA) is producing guidance notes on Duty of Care but these are not yet available.
What is agricultural waste?
The EC Waste Framework Directive defines waste as ‘any substance or object ……… which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard’.
There is no definitive list of agricultural waste. EA literature however describes a number of broad groups of waste, all of which are likely to be generated on any poultry farm.
At first glance you may believe that you are not producing waste in some of the following categories, so a few selected EA descriptions are given as examples. The groups of waste include cardboard and paper; plastic packaging; building waste (includes soil and stones); metal, wood, glass, and rubber (includes hedge trimmings, tree prunings, wood shavings, agrochemical containers); hazardous waste (includes oils and fluorescent light tubes); vehicle and machinery waste (includes redundant vehicles and machinery); animal health products.
Dealing with waste
You will be permitted to store waste securely for a maximum of 12 months on site (36 months if it is to be recycled).
The waste must not be able to escape your control, e.g. become windblown, or cause pollution. If it is possible to separate wastes this may reduce subsequent disposal costs as contaminated wastes are more difficult to recycle. Inevitably though, the waste must be removed from the farm.
There will be four basic options for dealing with waste that can be used individually or in combination. These are:
Take the waste to a recovery or disposal site Before doing this you will have to comply with your Duty of Care and it will be your responsibility to determine that the site is authorised and has an appropriate licence or exemption to accept the type of waste you intend to take. You will also have to complete a Duty of Care transfer note to include a description of the waste and then retain a copy for your records.
To help you to find sites that are authorised the EA is developing a Waste Recycling Directory (website www.wasterecycling.org.uk). However, this is far from comprehensive and may not list local waste sites. A search for a site licenced for disposal of plastic packaging film from keyes trays listed my nearest contractor as being over 50 km from the farm.
Arrange collection by waste carrier to a licenced disposal site
As above, you have to comply with your Duty of Care and it is you who has to make sure that they are authorised to carry that particular waste and that the disposal site is licenced accordingly. A Duty of Care transfer must also be completed and a copy retained.
Register a licence exemption to dispose of, or, re-use waste on the farm
Due to the idiosyncratic definition of certain types of waste there will undoubtedly be the need for every farmer to complete additional forms and paperwork to apply for ‘exemptions’.
The new controls would effectively mean that a waste management licence would be needed to carry out certain routine farming activities. These include, for example, burning logs and branches from fallen trees, burning hedge trimmings and leaves, and clearing mud and debris from streams and ditches and depositing it along their banks. These activities, and a number of others will, however, be made exempt. If you carry out an exempt activity you won’t need a waste management licence but you will need to register it with the EA.
So, what other activities are to be exempt? At present the full list and the accompanying regulations has not been completed or received approval from Defra. The EA were unable to confirm when this list would become available but anticipate that it should be in the near future.
There will be two ways to register for an exemption. The EA will be issuing an exemptions pack when the new controls start (you can request a pack by calling them on 0845 603 3113). Alternatively you can register exemptions online at the Defra website (available in spring 2006). Exemptions will be free for agricultural waste and will last indefinitely so registration will not require renewal. You will have one year from the start of the new regulations to register your exemptions.
Obtain a Waste Management Licence or a Pollution Prevention Control Permit
This is not an option to enable you to continue to operate a farm dump or tip. It is intended for professional waste management operations and is not a viable alternative.
These new regulations will be implemented and enforced by the EA. If you keep using your tip or burn waste illegally you will be breaking the law and could face serious penalties.
In conclusion, every farmer will have to comply with the agricultural waste regulations from spring 2006. These regulations impose new responsibilities on the individual, and, as the only practical option for disposal of man-made waste will be to use an authorised disposal site or carrier, will incur extra financial burden for disposal of waste.
