Standard rules consultation no.14: new and revised standard rules

The proposals include:

• the withdrawal of 4 existing standard rules which allow a range of wastes to be used in construction and land reclamation activities. This is being proposed as we have identified a risk to groundwater from some of these waste types in some locations. They will be replaced with a single set of rules which will be more restrictive on the type of waste permissible and location at which they can be adopted. These changes will better protect groundwater quality

• the revision of 4 standard rules covering land spreading and digestate storage activities. The changes will introduce additional restrictions to ensure better environmental protection. There will also be new provisions providing operators greater flexibility in the size of area and choice of acceptable wastes they can spread. We also want to make minor changes to definitions and wording to improve clarity and consistency

• 3 significant changes that affect 13 existing standard rules permits for soil recycling

We want to:

• add some advisory text on the need to meet end of waste status for recovered materials

• modify waste acceptance procedures for soils from known or suspected contaminated sites

• clarify authorised treatment activities for mobile plant permits for the treatment of soils, materials and products to allow segregation and sorting activities as well as associated recovery activities.

We will use the consultation responses to decide whether we will publish the rules and if the controls provided are appropriate for this activity.