[cleanairuk_news] Regulation of Industiral Emissions - England & Wales differ

[Network for Clean Air]

New legislation for the way in which industrial emissions are regulated in
England & Wales, came into force on January 7 2013. It will affect
industrial and waste facilities including waste incinerators. The EU's
Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) has been transposed into domestic
law, and new regulations for England and Wales now apply. Notably, the
regulation differs between England and Wales. Ineffect, the UK Government
has removed regulation for emissions from smaller industrial plant in
England while Wales has retained the regulation for smaller plant.
Decisions involving environmental affairs are one of Government which is
now part of devolved administration. The differences are beleived to
reflect the differing approach to regulation 'Red Tape' in the
administrations for England, and Wales.

The article at Let's Recycle explains the consequences of the legislation
and give the following regulatory timetable:

* Industrial emissions proposals laid in parliament
3 January 2013

*January 7 2014 - IED will apply to all existing installations

*July 7 2015 - IED will apply to existing installations operating newly
prescribed activities
has now com into forThe UK Government has enacted new

Extracts from the Let's Recycle article 'Industrial emissions proposals
laid in parliament - Final regulations drafted ahead of January 6 deadline
as Defra publishes response to consultation' (3 January 2013) are below,
and the full unedited artilce is here:

Taken from:
http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/waste-wanagement/industrial-emissions-proposals-laid-before-parliament

*Other coverage*

*Materials Recycling Weekly 'Emissions directive becomes UK law - 7
January 2013'

http://www.mrw.co.uk/news/emissions-directive-becomes-uk-law/8640844.article?blocktitle=Latest-news---recycling-and-waste-management&contentID=2182


*Background*

*Government consultation/ documents / Defra website:

All consultation documents and summary of responses
http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/03/12/industrial-emissions-1203/

'Transposition of the industrial emissions Directive in England and Wales
Consultation start: 12 March 2012
Consultation end: 6 June 2012

Summary

Defra invited views on the transposition of the industrial emissions
Directive (2010/75/EU).

'This Directive “recasts” seven existing Directives: those on integrated
pollution prevention and control (IPPC), large combustion plants, waste
incineration, activities using organic solvents and three on titanium
dioxide production.

As its name indicates, the industrial emissions Directive requires a wide
range of industrial activities to be regulated so as to protect the
environment from possible harm from their emissions.

This consultation will have been of particular interest to those who
operate those industrial activities, and to those who are interested in
how those activities are regulated.
'

Summary of responses

See
http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/files/industrial-emissions-sumresp-20121221.pdf

*Let's Recycle article extracts*

Industrial emissions proposals laid in parliament

3 January 2013

Waste Management Defra and the Welsh Government have outlined their final
proposals for transposing the Industrial Emissions Directive into law,
following a consultation last year.

Key among the governments’ plans are: making local authorities the
regulators for all waste incineration and co-incineration activities below
a certain threshold; removing the ‘burden’ of "best available techniques"
(BATs) from smaller installations; and, encouraging regulators to press
ahead with the development of standard rules.

...

BATs
In the consultation Defra proposed to remove best available technique
(BAT) requirements from incineration and co-incineration installations
which are not subject to integrated pollution prevention and control
(IPPC). BAT requirements are an obligation to ensure that industrial
operators use the most cost-effective techniques to achieve a high level
of environmental protection. These facilities would have a capacity of
less than three tonnes per hour for non-hazardous waste and 10 tonnes per
day for hazardous waste.

...

In response to the proposals, some local authorities, which would regulate
such plants, claimed the lack of BAT requirement from these installations
would give nothing for operators to aim for or for regulators to regulate
against. However, Defra said it should be noted that “the highly
prescriptive requirements of Chapter IV manifestly provide plenty to
achieve and enforce without, as an industry respondent pointed out, the
added complexity of BAT assessments for what by definition are small
plants.”

Responses to consultation

Following the consultation the Regulations laid before Parliament will
remain as drafted for England. However, “given the strength of the feeling
in consultation responses”, the Welsh Government said that the BAT
requirement will remain for installations in Wales.

Regulations

Defra said the draft amended Regulations, which were modified in light of
the consultation responses, were laid before Parliament and the National
Assembly for Wales in December 2012. The guidance is expected to be
finalised in early 2013.