Licensing and Compliance
There is extensive regulation and compliance associated with waste recycling and especially the recycling of food wastes and animal by-products. Recyclers and waste producers have to meet stringent duty of care requirements and sites that process and handle waste must obtain appropriate licenses.
Such onerous requirements can pose a potential barrier for new entrants to recycling and waste management. However BIOGEN have built up a detailed knowledge and understanding of the requirements and have designed their farm based integrated application of the AD technology specifically to be compliant with UK regulations. Our proven technology and our expertise ensure we can obtain all the required licensing and approvals required to build and operate new plants.
The legislation
Companies generating waste and waste service providers are governed by the following legislation in relation to their waste management:
Duty of Care
The waste holder (producer, carrier and disposer) are required to comply with a Duty of Care. Under this duty of care they must take all reasonable steps to keep waste safe. Before handing their waste on to someone else they must ensure that the organisation is authorised to take it and that their waste will be going to a licensed site.
Waste Management license (WML) or Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permit
Sites that store, treat and handle controlled wastes are required to obtain the relevant license/permit from the Environment Agency. The license/permit requires that wastes are handled without causing harm to the environment or detriment to the amenity. Sites covered by a WML or PPC permit are audited regularly by the Environment Agency. For Anaerobic Digestion, an exemption from the Environment Agency is also currently required in order to spread the digestate onto the land. For further information, refer to the Environment agency website.
Animal By-products Regulation (ABPR)
Sites that accept animal-by-products (ABP) are required to register with the State Veterinary Service (an executive agency of DEFRA). As with the WML this will dictate how animal by-product waste is handled and treated, and any process is subject to regular audits by officers of the State Veterinary Service. For further information please refer to the DEFRA website.
