Transfrontier Shipment Regulations
The Transfrontier Shipment Regulations capture the requirements of European and UK law for shipping waste into or out of the country.
Overview
The regulations apply from the point of loading the waste until it has been fully recovered or disposed of at the destination facility and, as such, it demonstrates compliance with the obligations of the Duty of Care legislation. The controls need to be reviewed in the context of the treatment planned for the waste at the destination, the country of destination and transport route, and the waste type (first defining whether the material is indeed classified as waste). The importing and exporting of waste for Recovery is possible, whereas it is prohibited for Disposal except for specific exceptions[1]
Application to the Export of Waste Derived Fuel to Europe
The export of a Waste Derived Fuel i.e. an RDF or SRF can only occur if the material is going to a Recovery facility i.e. an Energy Recovery Facility as opposed to an Incineration. The application and approval process can take from one to three months and the term of such consents ("the TFS") can range from 12 months upwards to typically no more than 3 years. A TFS is unique to the producer and the ERF or Cement Kiln off-taker and so exporters (will more often than not) raise multiple TFS applications for more tonnage than they are able to move, and will overlap consents to ensure continuity between TFS approvals. As an example in 2015, just over 26 million tonnes of Transfrontier Shipment consent was available for use for Waste Derived Fuel Export, but only around 3 million tonnes were utilized.
The number of TFS approvals can give some insight to Waste Derived Fuel producers to know how much capacity the competition has remaining on their TFS and whether continuity may be at risk, but fundamentally exporters are applying for multiple TFS consents which reduces the insight that this may have given in the early days of RDF and SRF export from the UK. It also enables producers to ensure that their waste is being managed in line with their duty of care requirements.
Key Measures
Key Measures, in summary, to have in place include[2]:
- An application to the appropriate UK authority with the relevant fee;
- A financial guarantee is in place to ensure enough money is available to deal with the waste if things go wrong, including the cost of returning the waste to the UK;
- A contract for the recovery of the waste, including specific terms, with the business that will be receiving and recovering the waste;
- Insurance against liability for damage to third parties;
- Necessary permissions from the regulatory authorities ('competent authorities') in all countries concerned before moving the waste;
- An approval ('consent') from the relevant UK competent authority that arrangements are in place;
- That the waste is dealt with in an environmentally sound manner at all times when it is being shipped and recovered;
- All necessary legislation, for example regarding packaging and carrying dangerous goods is complied with.