The Environmental Permitting Regulations (England and Wales) 2010 were introduced on 6 April 2010, replacing the 2007 Regulations. In 2007 the Regulations combined the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) and Waste Management Licensing (WML) regulations. If you are storing or treating waste and your activity is listed in Schedule 3 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) then you do not require a permit but you may need to register an exemption. If your activity is not exempt then you will require an environmental permit. If you operate or are proposing to operate a facility which meets the criteria below you will need to apply for a waste or installation permit. You are disposing of hazardous waste (other than by incineration or landfill) in a facility with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes per day. You are disposing of waste oils (other than by incineration or landfill) in a facility with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes per day. You are disposing of non-hazardous waste in a facility with a capacity of more than 50 tonnes per day by biological treatment (D8) or physico-chemical treatment (D9).

1. Waste Regulation &
Permitting
Waste Operations, Activities and Capacities
Andre Akiyode
Waste Regulation Consultant
A.AKIYODE@ABBYOO.CO.UK

2. Objective
To help readers understand what is meant by:
Waste Operation (Recovery vs Disposal)
Waste Facility Types
Waste Activities (R & D codes)
Limit of Activities

3. What we will cover
Objective
Waste operations
Waste Activities (R & D Codes)
Waste Facility Types
Waste Types
Regulatory Limits
Using R & D codes
Limit of Activities
 Worked Examples
Summary/Close
Questions

4. Waste Operations
 Regulation 2 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 (EPR)
states: waste operation is the recovery or disposal of waste.
 All waste activities, other than temporary storage of waste at the place
of production, are classified as either disposal or recovery operations*.
 Where waste is not being recovered it is deemed to be part of a
disposal operation.
 The landfill or incineration of waste is a disposal operation. The deposit
of waste to land for recovery is a recovery operation.

5. Waste Activities (R & D Codes)
A waste operation is defined by the type(s) and
quantity of waste it accepts, and the activities*
carried out within the facility*.
A facility carrying out a waste recovery operation will
have Recovery (R) codes in it’s permit and facility
carrying out a waste disposal operation will have
Disposal (D) codes.

6. Waste Recovery and Disposal
 A waste activity simply involves the management of waste as defined
by the Waste Directive 2008. A Waste activity will generally be a waste
operation if not defined as an installation;
 Paragraph 9 of Article 3 of the Waste Directive 2008 defines waste
management’ as the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of
waste, including the supervision of such operations and the after-care
of disposal sites, and including actions taken as a dealer or broker.
 For the purpose of regulating these facilities, the EA National
Permitting Service determines permit application for waste recovery
and disposal operations.

7. Waste Recovery and Disposal
 Recovery as defined by the waste directive is:
 any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a
useful purpose by replacing other materials which would
otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste
being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider
economy.
 Disposal is also defined as:
 any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has
as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or
energy.
 Annex I and II sets out a non-exhaustive list of
disposal and recovery operations;

10. Waste Types
 There are 3 main types of wastes depending on their
sources:
 Household or Municipal waste,
 Commercial Waste and
 Industrial Waste.
 Following assessment, each of these must be
characterised as: Inert, Hazardous or Non Hazardous
Waste.

11. Waste Types
 Inert waste: is defined by the landfill directive as waste that does not undergo
any significant physical, chemical or biological transformations. Inert waste will
not dissolve, burn or otherwise physically or chemically react, biodegrade or
adversely affect other matter with which it comes into contact in a way likely to
give rise to environmental pollution or harm human health. The total leachability
and pollutant content of the waste and the ecotoxicity of the leachate must be
insignificant, and in particular not endanger the quality of surface water and/or
groundwater;
 Hazardous waste: Some types of waste are harmful to human health, or to the
environment, either immediately or over an extended period of time. These are
called hazardous wastes. e.g, lead acid batteries or fluorescent tubes;
 Non Hazardous waste: is waste which is not on the Hazardous Waste List, and
includes municipal waste and inert waste;

12. Classes of Regulated Facility
There are different classes of regulated facilities:
 Installations – generally these are facilities at which
industrial, waste and intensive farming activities falling
(mainly) under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and
Control Directive are carried out. The activities are listed in
Schedule 1 to the Regulations.
 Any other waste activity (recovery or disposal) will
generally be a waste operation if not defined as an
installation;

13. Classes of facilities
 mobile plant – Non Stationary Technical Units. The most
common are mobile waste plant used in land reclamation;
 mining waste operations - managing extractive waste;
 water discharge activities - these can be stand alone or part
of one of the above;
 groundwater activities - these may be stand alone or part of
any of the other facilities;
 radioactive substances activities - these can never be part of
another facility.

14. Types of Facilities - Waste Storage
Waste Transfer Station
 Building or processing site for
the temporary deposition of
waste.
 Storage prior to off-site
removal for disposal or
recovery, e.g. incineration,
landfill, hazardous waste
facility, recycling

15. Types of Facilities - Waste Treatment
Mechanical Biological
Treatment (MBT)
 Integration of several
processes, e.g. separation,
screening, composting,
heating treatment
 Less harmful and / or more
beneficial output waste
streams.

16. Types of Facilities - Waste Treatment
Material Recycling Facility
(MRF)
 Separating & extracting
mixed waste streams
 Manual/mechanical
separation techniques
 Conveyor systems to carry,
sort, screen, separate waste
into components, e.g.
plastics, metals, papers, etc.

17. Types of Facilities - Waste Recovery
Waste Composting
 Biological process for the
breakdown of organic material.
 Typical waste include, green &
putrescible wastes
 Usually requires pre-sorting and
screening to remove non-
compostables.

18. Types of facilities - Waste Disposal
Landfill
Disposal of waste by
burial
Three main categories:
Inert, Non Hazardous
and Hazardous Landfills
Inert Landfill are waste
facilities.

19. Examples
List the typical R and D codes you will use?
 Waste Transfer Station accepting mixed waste streams: D15, D14,
R13, R3, R4, R5
 Mechanical Biological Treatment Facility mixed waste streams: R13,
R3, R4, R5
 Physical Treatment Facility accepting inorgic waste only (excluding
metals): D15, D14, D9, R13, R05,
 Physical Treatment Facility accepting mixed waste streams
(excluding metals): D15, D14, D8, D9, R13, R3, R5)
 Waste Composting Facility: R13, R3
 Material Recycling Facility: R13, R3, R4, R5

20. Regulation of waste activities (Disposal)
 Section 5.3 of part 2 of schedule 1 of EPR
a) The disposal of hazardous waste (other than by
incineration or landfill) in a facility with a capacity of more
than 10 tonnes per day.
b) The disposal of waste oils (other than by incineration or
landfill) in a facility with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes
per day.
c) Disposal of non-hazardous waste in a facility with a
capacity of more than 50 tonnes per day by –

21. Regulation of waste activities
i. Biological treatment, not being treatment specified in any
paragraph other than paragraph D8 of Annex IIA to the Waste
Framework Directive, which results in final compounds or
mixtures which are discarded by means of any of the operations
numbered D1 to D2 in that Annex (D8), or
ii. Physico-chemical treatment, not being treatment specified in any
paragraph other than paragraph D9 in Annex IIA to the waste
Framework Directive, which results in final compounds or
mixtures which are discarded by means of any of the operations
numbered D1 to D12 in that Annex (for example, evaporation,
drying, calcination, etc (D9).
 To better explain this section, it’s important to look at some of the
terms used:

22. Regulation of waste facilities
 Hazardous waste: These are waste that posses any of the hazardous properties (H1 to H15) in the Hazardous Waste Directive. They are
harmful to human health or the environment, either immediately or over an extended period of time, e.g, lead acid batteries or fluorescent tubes.
 Non Hazardous waste: is waste which is not on the Hazardous Waste List, and includes municipal waste and inert waste;
 Inert waste: is defined by the landfill directive as waste that does not undergo any significant physical, chemical or biological transformations.
Inert waste will not dissolve, burn or otherwise physically or chemically react, biodegrade or adversely affect other matter with which it comes
into contact in a way likely to give rise to environmental pollution or harm human health. The total leachability and pollutant content of the waste
and the ecotoxicity of the leachate must be insignificant, and in particular not endanger the quality of surface water and/or groundwater;
 Waste Oil: Within the meaning of the EPR include mineral oil such as gear box oil, engine oil, lubricating oil, etc. They do not include fuel oil or
edible oil.
 Biological Treatment: Treatment process which involves the breakdown of organic or biodegradable waste;
 Physico-chemical Treatment: Physical and/or chemical treatment processes. Physical treatment will not change the chemical propeerties of the
waste, e.g. breaking and separation. Chemical treatment changes the chemical and sometimes physical nature of the waste, e.g. solidification.
 ‘treatment’ means recovery or disposal operations, including preparation prior to recovery or disposal. So treatment would include screening,
shredding, crushing, compaction, etc prior to recovery/recycling or disposal;
 Capacity: this refers to potential capacity and not historical or actual production levels or throughput. That is what the facility is able to accept or
treat as prescribed by the regulation. This will be explained in more details.
 Incineration & Landfill are both waste disposal activities through the burning/destruction and deposit on or into land of waste respectively. These
are listed separately in sections 5.1 and 5.2 of EPR.

23. Hazardous Waste

24. Hazardous Waste Capacity
 Section 5.3 of part 2 of schedule 1 of EPR
a) The disposal of hazardous waste (other than by incineration or landfill) in a facility
with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes per day.
 This means any facility where more than 10 tonnes of haz waste is disposed
of per day (other than by incineration [D10] or landfill [D01/D05]) will be
an Installation.
 So disposal of less than 10 tonnes of hazardous waste per day (other than by
incineration or landfill) would be a waste activity.
 Note the Disposal codes in Annex I of the WFD. Look at D15. What comes
to mind?
 The main disposal codes that you will come across when dealing with a
permit for hazardous waste disposal will include D8, D9, D13, D14 & D15.
The other Disposal codes apply to other regimes, e.g. D01 for landfills.

25. Waste Oil Capacity
 Section 5.3 of part 2 of schedule 1 of EPR
b) The disposal of waste oils (other than by incineration or landfill) in a facility with a
capacity of more than 10 tonnes per day.
 “Disposal” means the processing or destruction of waste oil as well as it’s
storage and tipping above ground.
 For “storage” (for disposal) this means any facility where more than 10
tonnes of waste oil is disposed of per day (other than by incineration or
landfill) will be an Installation.
 So disposal of less than 10 tonnes of waste oils per day (other than by
incineration [D10] or landfill [D01/D05]) would be a waste activity.
 Disposal codes that you will come across when dealing with a permit for
waste oil disposal will be D15. The other Disposal codes apply to other
regimes, e.g. D01 for landfills.

26. Waste Oil Capacity
 The word “processing”, means treatment to enable it’s re-use
(waste recovery). We will look at this later on.
 “Destruction”, means incineration. Waste oils are considered to be
hazardous waste. Incineration of hazardous waste is listed in
section 5.1(A1)(a) of schedule 1 of EPR. So this will be an
installation and does not fall under waste regulation.
 As for “tipping” the Landfill Directive prohibits the tipping of liquid
waste in a landfill. So tipping or landfilling of waste oil is illegal and
not permitted.
 Any tipping whether accidental or intentional must be remedied.
Sites where this occur may be classed as Contaminated lands also
known as Part 2A sites which are regulated by Local Authorities.

27. Non Hazardous Waste Capacity
 Section 5.3 of part 2 of schedule 1 of EPR
c) Disposal of non-hazardous waste in a facility with a capacity of more
than 50 tonnes per day by –
i. Biological treatment, not being treatment specified in any paragraph
other than paragraph D8 of Annex IIA to the Waste Framework
Directive, which results in final compounds or mixtures which are
discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D1 to D2 in that
Annex (D8), or
ii. Physico-chemical treatment, not being treatment specified in any
paragraph other than paragraph D9 in Annex IIA to the waste
Framework Directive, which results in final compounds or mixtures
which are discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D1 to
D12 in that Annex (for example, evaporation, drying, calcination, etc
(D9).

28. Non Hazardous Waste Capacity
 For section 5.3(c)(i) above -
 This means any facility where:
 more than 50 tonnes of non hazardous waste is disposed of per day (by
biological treatment [D8]) will be an Installation.
 So disposal of less than 50 tonnes of non hazardous waste per day
(by biological treatment [D8] would be a waste activity.
 Disposal codes that you may need to use when dealing with a
permit for disposal (storage or treatment) of non hazardous waste
consisting of organic wastes will be D15 and D08. The other
Disposal codes apply to other regimes, e.g. D01 for landfills.

29. Non Hazardous Waste Capacity
 For section 5.3(c)(ii) above -
 This means any facility where:
 more than 50 tonnes of non hazardous waste is disposed of per day (by
physico-chemical treatment [D9] will be an Installation.
 So disposal of less than 50 tonnes of non hazardous waste per day
(by physico-chemical treatment [D9] would be a waste activity.
 The main disposal codes that you may need to use when dealing
with a permit for disposal (storage or treatment) of non hazardous
waste consisting of in-organic wastes will be D15 and D09. The
other Disposal codes apply to other regimes, e.g. D01 for landfills.
 Where there is a mixture of both, i.e. organic and inorganic waste,
all codes (D15, D8 & D9) may be used.

30. Waste Recovery

31. Regulation of waste activities (Recovery)
 As the main purpose of recovery is to enable the use of
waste thereby conserving natural resources, the EA takes a
lighter regulatory touch on waste recovery operations
 Waste recovery include:
 Energy Recovery - treatment of waste to generate energy, e.g. A.D
 Composting – treatment of waste for agricultural purposes, i.e. to produce
manure
 Deposit for recovery – use of waste for construction, e.g. land levelling

32. Hazardous Waste (Recovery)
 Section 5.4 of part 2 of schedule 1 of EPR
c) Unless carried on as part of any other Part A activity, recovering
hazardous waste in a plant with a capacity of more than 10
tonnes per day by means of the following operations-
i. The use principally as fuel or other means to generate energy (R1)
ii. Solvent reclamation/regeneration (R2)
iii. Recycling/reclamation of inorganic materials other than metals and metal
compounds (R5)
iv. Regeneration of acids or bases (R6)
v. Recovering components used for pollution abatement (R7)
vi. Recovery of components from catalysts (R8)
vii. Oil re-refining or other reuses of oil (R9)

33. Hazardous Capacity
 The above means any plant where more than 10 tonnes of
hazardous waste is recovered per day (by R1, R2, R5, R6, R7, R8
& R9) will be an Installation.
 So the recovery of less than 10 tonnes of hazardous waste per day
by R1, R2, R5, R6, R7, R8 & R9 activities would be a
waste/recovery operation.
 For all other Recovery codes not listed above, there are no limits on
the quantity that can be accepted/recovered
 The main recovery codes that you will come across when dealing
with a permit for hazardous waste recovery will include R13, R3,
R5, R9 and in some rare cases, R10.

34. Non Hazardous Capacity
 There is nothing in the Regs. that limits the recovery of Non
Hazardous waste.
 It therefore follows that any quantity of Non hazardous waste can be
recovered provided it’s in line with the aim of article 13 of the Waste
Framework Directive which states:
 Waste management is carried out without endangering human
health, without harming the environment and, in particular
 without risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals;
 without causing a nuisance through noise or odours; and
 without adversely affecting the countryside or places of special interest.

35. Limiting Activities
 We use the limit of activities table S1.1 to:
 specify & restrict the activities (as required by the Regs) carried out onsite;
 Show whether the permitted site is a Waste Facility or an Installation.
 Depending on the type of operation (Disposal or Recovery) a permit for a facility
storing and/or treating Hazardous waste will specify the:
 Recovery & Disposal codes (R & D);
 Authorised treatment activities, if allowed, e.g. dismantling, screening, etc

36. Limiting Activities (contd)
 Quantity of waste that can be accepted and stored for disposal
(<10 tonnes/day);
 Capacity of the plant/site used for recovery &
 Other relevant limits such as time limits* for the storage of
waste for recovery and disposal if facility is permitted to store
for recovery (R13) as well as for disposal (D15).

38. Limiting Activities
 Permits for a facilities accepting, storing and/or treating Non Hazardous waste
will specify:
 Recovery and/or Disposal codes;
 Authorised treatment activities if allowed, e.g. dismantling, screening, etc
 Quantity of waste that can be treated for disposal (<50 tonnes/day);
 Other relevant limits such as time limits* on the storage of waste for recovery
and disposal if facility is permitted to store for recovery (R13) as well as for
disposal (D15).

40. Question time
 Question 1
 An application for a deposit for recovery permit. The proposal is to accept both
inert and non hazardous waste onsite. Non hazardous waste will be treated by
screening, crushing and soil washing. Once treated, suitable waste along with
imported inert waste will be spread/used for site levelling/development. Waste
which are not suitable will be taken off-site for disposal.
 What type of waste operation will this be? Recovery or Disposal?
 Have they applied for the correct permit?
 If not, what should they be applying for?
 List the appropriate R and/or D codes for the waste operation.

41. Worked Example
 Question 2
 An application for a waste transfer station has been submitted. Waste
will be stored on site prior to recovery and disposal. The waste types to
be accepted include waste oil, contaminated soil and some inert
wastes.
 What are the restrictions you will use in table S1.1?
 The applicant called and asked if they could increase the quantity of
waste oil to 11 tonnes per day.
 What will you advise?