Environment Agency Response
Environment Agency Response
Below is the response I receive from the Environment Agency June 2021 – some of the information may be out of date:
- What is needed in order to return inert materials back to the ground that was excavated, for example soils, stones, bricks?
The holder of a substance or object must decide whether they are dealing with waste. If a material is waste (eg a former landfill or exempt waste disposal operation), it will remain waste where it is not a by-product or does not meet an end of waste test. It must be subject to the appropriate disposal or recovery permit when the holder treats, recovers or disposes of it.
Where that excavation produces waste, any subsequent activity will normally need a permit. That includes;
- treatment activity prior to disposal or recovery permit
- disposal permit
- recovery permit
Permit application and subsistence charges are specified in our Charging Scheme. Subsistence charges apply to all permitted activities. There is no subsistence charge for an historic landfill (as there is no permitted activity). If a developer wants to dispose of or recover waste onto or into an historic landfill they must make a permit application.
There are several waste regulatory options available:
An operator/developer may excavate the waste and send if off site to an appropriate site permitted to accept it. If their waste classification confirms the waste is non-hazardous, they must comply with the waste Duty of Care. If their waste classification confirms it is hazardous waste, they must consign it in accordance with the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005. In either case, the holder must consider the waste hierarchy when transferring their waste to someone else.
Where an operator/ developer intends to excavate waste and redeposit any residual waste back into or onto the site (including after treatment) there are 2 scenarios;
- Historic landfill. Any treatment of the excavated waste and/ or re-deposit must be authorised by a permit.
- Closed landfill. The operator must apply to vary their landfill permit to authorise them to treat waste or deposit any residual waste for disposal or recovery.
A treatment activity can be included in the landfill permit, or the operator/developer can treat the waste under a separate mobile plant or site-based permit.
For scenarios (1) or (2), the site of the re-deposit must comply with the relevant requirements of the Landfill Directive (LfD).
If the operator/developer intends to re-deposit waste that is inert, the output from that treatment must meet the definition of inert waste (LfD, article 2(e)). It must also meet the relevant landfill waste acceptance criteria (WAC). There must be a suitable geological barrier, equivalent to the specification in the LfD, annex 1, or artificially enhanced by engineering. For more information, read our guidance on landfills for inert waste.
If the operator/developer intends to re-deposit waste that is not inert, the Landfill Directive standards for hazardous or non-hazardous wastes will apply. That may require a geological barrier, basal liner and leachate collection system. The standards for these must be established by risk assessment (eg a Hydrogeological risk assessment (HRA) or stability risk assessment (SRA)). The EA can agree to reduce some of the Landfill Directive standards based on risk assessment. Other standards for landfill gas, amenity controls and monitoring will apply.
Landfills for hazardous or non-hazardous waste are installations (EPR , schedule 1, section 5.2, Part A(1)) where they receive more than 10 tonnes of waste per day or have a capacity of more than 25,000 tonnes.
If an operator/developer intends to deposit waste over existing waste, they must comply with the relevant LfD standards.
If an operator/ developer can satisfy the EA that they are recovering waste, they can deposit waste onto or into land as a recovery activity. Read deposit for recovery operators: environmental permits.
The EA can permit the recovery of hazardous waste where the activity satisfies the definition of recovery. Where hazardous waste is treated prior to recovery, that treatment activity will be an installation where the plant has the capacity to treat more than 10 tonnes of waste per day (EPR, schedule 1, section 5.3, Part A(1)).
Recovery of inorganic hazardous waste on land with a capacity of greater than 10 tonnes per day falls under EPR Section 5.3 Part A(1)(a)(vi) ‘recycling or reclamation of inorganic materials other than metals or metal compounds’. Where inorganic hazardous waste is stored, treated and recovered at the same installation, we must consider if the aggregated capacity exceeds 10 tonnes per day.
A treatment activity can be included in the DfR permit. The operator/developer can permit the treatment under a separate mobile plant permit, where the standard rules allow it. They can also apply for a stand-alone site based permit. The conditions will be the same if they apply to include the activity in their recovery permit.
Read the EA guidance on demonstrating that the deposit of waste is a recovery activity. An operator must send us a Waste Recovery Plan (WRP) to provide the evidence that their activity is for recovery.
To satisfy the recovery test, the WRP must show substitution i.e. that the works would be done with non-waste material but that suitable waste is available that will perform the same function. This saves raw material by using waste instead.
Demonstrating substitution is more difficult where the waste is to be excavated, treated and re-deposited in the same area on site. This is because it is harder for an operator/developer to satisfy us that they would have done the work anyway with non-waste (as the waste is already on site). The operator/developer may be able to include the cost of removing and depositing the excavated material at a permitted facility to satisfy the financial viability option for demonstrating recovery.
If the applicant can demonstrate recovery and makes an application for a DfR permit, the EA must consider the risk of pollution that activity will present. The operator/developer may need to install an attenuation layer beneath the waste to mitigate any emissions. The operator/developer will need to provide a HRA to help us make that judgement. The level of detail for that HRA will depend on the site setting. For any treated excavated waste containing residual contamination the operator/developer will also need to consider the surrender requirements of the deposit for recovery permit. The operator/developer may need to gather monitoring data as evidence to support their surrender application.
Note: When the EA grants an environmental permit for a waste activity (disposal or DfR), it only authorises that activity. The permit does not extend controls to any other waste or contamination in the surrounding land, i.e. it will not bring historic waste or contamination into waste control. If an operator/ developer removes part of an historic landfill, treats the waste and re-deposits it back onto the original site, the permit will only authorise that redeposit. The extent of the permitted activity (permit boundary) will be defined by the level of the base of the activity, final contours and lateral extent on a site plan.
- What is needed to store, treat and recover the materials that we find in the landfill site?
Treatment activity may;
- sort or separate wastes so that some or all of it can be recovered or recycled
- change the wastes characteristics so that it can be recovered, recycled or sent to energy from waste plant
- change the waste characteristics by reducing the hazard so that it can be sent to a different class of landfill or deposit for recovery activity
A treatment activity can be included in the landfill disposal permit, or the operator/developer can treat the waste under a separate mobile plant or site-based permit.
A treatment activity can be included in the DfR permit. The operator/developer can permit the treatment under a separate mobile plant permit, where the standard rules allow it. They can also apply for a stand-alone site based permit. The conditions will be the same if they apply to include the activity in their recovery permit.
- What is needed to dispose of any materials that are not inert, but unable to be recovered, or would this be treated like ordinary waste once removed from landfill?
See option A above.
The holder of waste must use our technical guidance WM3 to help them decide if they have hazardous or non-hazardous waste. If they want to dispose of waste to landfill, they must characterise it to decide which class of landfill they can send it to.
Where someone transfers their waste to someone else, they must consider the waste hierarchy (The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, Regulation 12). This includes the output from a treatment operation that changes the characteristics of the waste.
• We are looking to begin landfill mining in the North East of England, if there are different regulations or rules that govern these areas.
This advice applies to all of England
• If the process is long or complex, would it be possible to speak to a representative in order to garner what needs to be in place, before we begin identifying sites for remediation?
Yes, in this instance I would recommend registering for pre-application advice using the following link. Although it would help if you sites in mind already.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-permit-pre-application-advice-form
It is likely you would need enhanced pre-application advice which is a chargeable service but it will provide you with the clearest advice to progress correctly with your project.