Waste Managment Plan for England

The Waste Managment Plan for England was published in 2021 and fulfils the requirements of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 which requires a waste managment plan to be reviewed every six years. It is a high level, non-site specific document focussing on waste arisings and their managment. It also provides an analysis of the current Waste Management situation in England and evalutates how the Plan will support implementation of the objectives and provisions of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.

Introduction

There are comprehensive waste management policies in England which taken together deliver the objectives of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011: to protect the environment and human health by preventing or reducing the generation of waste, the adverse impacts of the generation and management of waste, and by reducing overall impacts of resource use and improving the efficiency of such use..

The Plan does not introduce new policies or to change the landscape of how waste is managed in England. Its core aim is to bring current Waste Management policies under the umbrella of one national plan.

What the Waste Managment Plan must contain

The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 specifiy what information the Plan must contain (with changes made by the Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 which came into force on 1 October 2020:

• An analysis of the current waste management situation in the geographical entity concerned, as well as the measures to be taken to improve environmentally sound preparing for reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal of waste, and an evaluation of how the Plan will support the implementation of the objectives and provisions listed in the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011;
• The type, quantity and source of waste generated within the territory, the waste likely to be shipped from or to the national territory, and an evaluation of the development of waste streams in the future;
• Existing major disposal and recovery installations, including any special arrangements for waste oils, hazardous waste, waste containing significant amounts of critical raw materials, or waste streams addressed by specific legislation;
• An assessment of the need for the closure of existing waste installations and for additional waste installation infrastructure in accordance with the proximity principle. An assessment of the investments and other financial means, including for local authorities, required to meet those needs is carried out;
• Information on the measures to attain the objective of diverting waste suitable for recycling or other recovery (in particular municipal waste) away from landfill or in other strategic documents;
• An assessment of existing waste collection schemes, including the material and territorial coverage of separate collection and measures to improve its operation, of any exceptions to requirements to collect waste separately, and of the need for new collection schemes;
• Sufficient information on the location criteria for site identification and on the capacity of future disposal or major recovery installations, if necessary;
• General waste management policies, including planned waste management technologies and methods, or policies for waste posing specific management problems;
• Measures to combat and prevent all forms of littering and to clean up litter;
• Appropriate qualitative or quantitative indicators and targets, including on the quantity of generated waste and its treatment and on municipal waste that is disposed of or subject to energy recovery;

• Waste management plans must:
  • include the measures to be taken so that, by 2035:
    • the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste is increased to a minimum of 65% by weight.
    • the amount of municipal waste landfilled is reduced to 10% or less of the total amount of municipal waste generated (by weight).
  • Conform to the strategy for the reduction of biodegradable waste going to landfill required by section 17(1) of the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003
  • Conform to the provisions in paragraph 5(1)(b) of Schedule 10 to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016
  • For the purposes of litter prevention, conform to:
    • the programme of measures published pursuant to regulation 14(1) of the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010;
    • each programme of measures proposed and approved under regulation 12(1) of the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 for river basin districts that are wholly or partly in England.

• Schedule 1 to the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 also sets out other obligations for the Plan which include:
  • Having a specific chapter on the management of packaging and packaging waste, including measures taken
    • to prevent the formation of packaging waste in accordance with the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2015;
    • that consist of national programmes and projects to introduce extended producer responsibility schemes to minimise the environmental impact of packaging;
    • that achieve a sustained reduction in the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags;
    • that actively encourage public information and awareness campaigns concerning the adverse environmental impact of the excessive consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags;
    • that encourage re-use systems of packaging, which can be re-used in an environmentally sound manner
    • that encourage the increase in the share of re-useable packaging placed on the market and of systems to reuse packaging in an environmentally sound manner without compromising food hygiene or the safety of consumers

• Measures to promote high quality recycling including the setting up of separate collections of waste where technically, environmentally and economically practicable and appropriate to meet the necessary quality standards for the relevant recycling sectors.

• As appropriate, measures to encourage the separate collection of bio-waste with a view to the composting and digestion ofbio-waste.

• As appropriate, measures to be taken to promote the reuse of products and preparing for reuse activities, in particular—
  • measures to encourage the establishment and support of reuse and repair networks;
  • the use of economic instruments
  • the use of procurement criteria; and
  • the setting of quantitative objectives.

• Measures to be taken to ensure that by 2020:
  • at least 50% by weight of waste from households is prepared for reuse or recycled.
  • at least 70% by weight of non-hazardous Construction and Demolition Waste that is not naturally occurring material falling within the description of code 17 05 04 in the List of Wastes is subjected to material recovery.

Wastes covered by the Plan

The Plan applies to the folllowing waste types:

1. Household Waste and commercial waste of a similar nature to household waste
2. Industrial (including agricultural) and other commercial waste
3. Industrial Waste - construction and demolition waste
4. Hazardous Waste

The Plan does not apply to certain wastes covered by other legislation, such as radioactive waste, mining waste, animal by-products and waste waters.

References

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