CIWM UK and Ireland Policy Roundup
As a fundamental part of our mission to influence, inform and inspire the sustainable management of resources and waste, CIWM works across Ireland and the UK to engage with and support the development of resource and waste management policy, champion professional standards and good practice, and keep our members informed and up to date on the key issues relevant to our sector.
As part of this, CIWM produces a member-only policy update each quarter. This briefly describes recent policy activity by the five UK and Ireland governments and their agencies relevant to the resource and waste management sector. Members can access the most recent updates here to learn about developments on resource and waste management policy after Brexit, the EU’s circular economy package, health and safety, tackling waste crime, deposit return schemes, extended producer responsibility and much more. The document also provides links to other relevant material. Click on the titles below to find out more.
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Items in the current update include:
- CIWM published a Brexit, Waste and the Island of Ireland exploring how the UK’s exit from the EU in March 2019 could impact on the resources and waste sector in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland...
- With the Budget now confirmed for 29th October, the expectation is that the Resources & Waste Strategy for England is likely to be published towards the end of November...
- In July, the National Audit Office published its report entitled ‘The packaging recycling obligations’. The report was prepared in response to a request from the Environmental Audit Committee...
- In August, HM Treasury published a summary of responses to its call for evidence on using the tax system or charges to address single-use plastic waste...
- In July, a summit was held between the four UK nations to discuss plans for a UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers...
- In July, the National Infrastructure Commission published the first National Infrastructure Assessment looking at the UK’s infrastructure needs out to 2050...
- Defra’s consultation on Environmental Principles and Governance after EU Exit closed on 2 August and CIWM submitted a full response...
- One of the priorities for the sector has been when new import licences for 2019 will be issued. The timing is important because of the lead-in time for arranging shipments...
- The Serious and Organised Waste Crime Review, led by Defra and chaired by Lizzie Noel, a non-executive director at Defra, closed its call for evidence, and a final report is expected towards end of October 2018...
- The Government published its Road to Zero Strategy to lead the world in zero emission vehicle technology in July with a clear role for waste-derived biofuels...
- With the formal adoption by the European Council of the EU Circular Economy package, CIWM has now issued a Technical Briefing Note to provide an overview of the main changes...
- The Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics report: January to March 2018 were published in July...
- In July, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released its annual figures for work-related fatal injuries for 2017/18 and the figures show that 12 fatal injuries to waste and recycling workers were recorded...
- In July, the Government published its first report on the progress made on the actions identified in the 2017 Litter Strategy...
- A Defra meeting on recycling collection consistency in September explored what consistency could/should look like for households and commercial premises from a waste sector perspective...
- In July, four more countries signed up to the first meeting of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance (CCOA) to tackle ocean plastics...
- Dealing with both hazardous and non-hazardous waste facilities across the EU, the new Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document (BREF) for Waste Treatment were published in August...
- The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) will soon be launching its National Infrastructure Assessment, and part of the engagement with the resources and waste sector included a roundtable on reforms to the packaging regulations, at which CIWM was represented...
- A consultation has been promised by Defra later this year on a Deposit Return Scheme for England (see previous Policy Update October 2017- March 2018)...
- Consultations and stakeholder engagement to inform the development of the forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy continue, spanning a number of policy areas, and CIWM has been involved in these discussions...
- In April, the UK government announced a £61.4 million package of funding for global research and to assist countries across the Commonwealth to stop plastic waste from entering the oceans as a major breakthrough...
- In May, Defra launched a consultation on Environmental Principles and Governance after EU Exit, which runs until 2 August 2018...
- From 4 May to 4 June China imposed a ban on US paper imports, the justification being that despite the change in quality specification there is still poor-quality material coming from the US...
- Defra has announced a review into serious and organised crime in England...
- A revised Definition of Waste Service checklist has been published to assist companies in their definition of waste assessment...
- A major report on food waste was published by the World Biogas Association in collaboration with the C40 Cities Food, Water & Waste Programme...
- The European Council confirmed its formal adoption of the Circular Economy Package, which will set out new rules for waste management and establish new targets for recycling, including the separate collections of textiles and hazardous waste from households...
- The EPA launched in June a €600,000 funding programme to support innovators. The Innovation for a Circular Economy Programme will support companies and organisations in Ireland to develop - and demonstrate - consumer and business solutions that will stimulate resource efficiency and the circular economy...
- HM Revenue & Customs published its Landfill Tax Bulletin, which contains statistics and analysis on Landfill Tax receipts...
- The European Environment Agency published the report ‘Waste Prevention in Europe – policies, status and trends in reuse in 2017’ on 25 June 2018...
- The RDF Industry Group issued a briefing note entitled ‘Waste Export: Brexit Briefing Note’ which argues that RDF exports represent an environmentally advantageous treatment route for waste…
- At the recent RTF18 conference (jointly organised by CIWM, ESA, the Resource Association and WRAP), two reports were launched…
- ‘Common human factors underlying worker fatalities in the waste and recycling sector’, a report published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and supported by CIWM (see CIWM comment), has underlined the importance of better safety management systems and awareness, and personal responsibility, in creating a stronger health and safety culture across the resource and waste management sector…
- The government has announced the first round of public sector challenges to be tackled through the £20m GovTech Fund…
- New regulations to double the use of sustainable renewable fuels by 2020 came into force in April aimed at doubling the use of renewable fuels in the UK transport sector within 15 years and cutting the sector’s reliance on imported diesel…
- Defra issued a consultation on a ‘Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse: Enforcement Guidance for Local Authorities’ with the aim of developing improved guidance on the use of local authority enforcement powers…
- LARAC issued a policy paper on the current state of funding for local authority waste services, warning that without fundamental change the UK will not be able to meet high recycling levels and local services will continue to shrink…
- Published in October 2017, the long-awaited Clean Growth Strategy set out the Government’s plans to work towards meeting the fourth (2023-2027) and fifth (2028-2032) carbon budgets…
- The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) produced its interim report Congestion, Capacity, Carbon in October 2017 on the way to the first National Infrastructure Assessment due later this year…
- In October 2017 Ireland introduced a Producer Responsibility Initiative for end of life tyres (ELTs)…
- One of the roles of the European Commission is to ensure the correct application of European law in the member states. Once outside the EU, this function will be lost for environmental legislation in the UK…
- Continuing the debate on the level of waste treatment capacity needed in the UK, the ESA commissioned a report from Tolvik that tried to bring the various studies together. It concluded that there would be a gap in capacity in 2030…
- The Industrial Strategy White Paper came out at the end of November. It too had some content relevant to resource and waste management, repeating the zero avoidable waste target and introducing a new one…
- On 1 January 2018, China’s ban on the import of 24 types of plastic waste and mixed paper waste came into effect. Some other types of waste will be required to meet a contamination level of 0.5% from March 2018. China has also announced a new 10-month anti-smuggling enforcement programme (‘Blue Sky 2018’) of ‘special actions against foreign garbage smuggling’…
- Defra launched its 25 Year Environment Plan on 11 January, after years of delay. This had a strong focus on resource and waste management issues, with a chapter on increasing resource efficiency and reducing pollution and waste with highlights including…
- Following a call for evidence at the end of 2016, BEIS has been promising a ‘bioeconomy strategy’…
- Informal consultations on the planned Resource and Waste Strategy have started, with Defra officials saying it will look at…
- The amendments to a set of EU waste laws have been pretty much agreed between the European Parliament, Council and Commission, bar some formal steps. The main elements are…
- In February, CIWM wrote to Conwy Council to confirm its view that well-designed four-weekly collections of residual waste can both support higher recycling rates and provide a good standard of service to residents. To do this, schemes need to include provisions such as…
- WRAP and INCPEN have been leading some work for Defra and separately for the Welsh Government bringing together the various parts of the supply chain to look at packaging producer responsibility…
- Working through Greener UK and the Environmental Policy Forum, CIWM has highlighted the concerns raised by the prospect of leaving the EU chemicals regulatory regime known as REACH. Regulatory decisions under this regime impact on our sector by…
- The importance of tackling poor solid waste management in developing and middle-income countries is a theme of our current President, Prof Wilson…
- New powers for the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales have come in to tackle waste crime. These include…
- Late last year the Environment Agency launched a consultation on its Strategic Review of Charges (SRoC)…
- Irish Ministers commissioned the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to look into the operation of the household waste collection market in Ireland…
- HMRC (for England and Northern Ireland), the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government have each extended the landfill tax to illegal waste sites…
- At the CIWM Resource Conference Cymru 2018, the Welsh Minister Hannah Blythyn announced…