The Environment Agency has published its response to the Appropriate measures for biowaste treatment consultation. This consultation was held last summer and you can find the REA response here. The EA’s aim for the guidance is to help operators understand the appropriate measures for permitted facilities that transfer or treat biowaste. It brings together three previous guidance documents and incorporates the requirements in the Waste Treatment Best Available Techniques Reference document (BREF).

The summary of the responses includes the information provided by the respondents to the consultation, the EA response and some of their proposed changes. We have summarised some key issues below, but please read the response in full for details. For some topics it is still unclear how the EA are planning to modify the draft guidance and whether our comments have been taken on board. The EA aim to publish the Appropriate Measures for the biological treatment of waste guidance by late summer. We will circulate to members as soon as we see it.

What sites and when?
Once published, the guidance will apply to all biowaste operations, this includes transfer, composting, AD and water companies where they operate permitted facilities (i.e. liquor and sludge treatment). Anaerobic digestion of energy crops is not subject to waste regulation and therefore out of scope of the guidance.

New installations must comply with the guidance from the start of operations. Sites permitted after 17 August 2018 must already be meeting them. Existing waste installations (permitted before August 2018) are required to meet BAT and the associated emission limits (BAT AELs) by 17 August 2022. Where an operator is unable to comply by the deadline they have an option to apply for a derogation. The guidance will be implemented though the permit application process for new facilities and for existing facilities through staged permit reviews and the revised Standard Rule permits (yet to be published).

Read the EA response in full here.

If you are logged into the REA website as a member, see below a summary of the EA response.

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