Lots of waste related legislation has come into force, or is due to come into force, so we at Barbour Consolidated thought it would be handy for all these changes to be all in one place!
October 2023
Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Act 2023
This Act received Royal Assent on 6 June 2023 with the primary aim of banning the supply of certain single-use plastics in Wales, including the free supply of such products.
Following the publication of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Product) (Wales) Act 2023 (Commencement No.1) Order SI 2023/1149, the majority of provisions came into force from 30 October 2023. As a result of this commencement, the following single-use plastic items are prohibited:
Polystyrene lids for cups or takeaway food containers, carrier bags, subject to exemptions, and certain products made of oxo-degradable plastic were not included in the commencement but will be banned at a future date, sometime before 2026.
Supplying or offering to supply the now-banned products will result in an offence being committed and could be liable to an unlimited fine.
December 2023
Environmental offences penalty changes
Under the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order SI 2010/1157, variable monetary penalties can be imposed in England on those found to have committed a variety of environmental offences. Such penalties are designed to be proportionate to the offence and have a cap of £250,000.
Following the publication of the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) (Amendment) Order SI 2023/1045, the £250,000 cap will be removed from 1 December 2023, which means that that any applicable environmental offence that takes place from 1 December 2023 could face an unlimited variable monetary penalty.
Also, unlimited variable monetary penalties are being introduced for offences under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2016/1154. Uncapped penalties will apply to offences after 1 December 2023, but the amount of the penalty generally cannot exceed the amount that might be imposed through a fine on summary trial. These changes will be introduced by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations SI 2023/1046.
Late 2023/Early 2024
Reporting for packaging data for large producers
The packaging data reporting requirements and related fees for large producers for packaging under the Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) Regulations SI 2023/219 and Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2023/7 have been delayed by a year by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
DEFRA has decided that the collection of fees and related reporting of packaging waste data will be delayed by a year, to reduce the impact of inflation, as enforcing this scheme could have an influence on the rise of prices for produce on the shelves and is not desirable in the current economic climate. The consultation on the draft legislation closed on 9 October 2023, with the expected outcome and related legislation to be published in late 2023 or early 2024.
As a result, the Environment Agency published a new Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) for England, with SEPA following suit for Scotland, that will allow large producers to delay the reporting of data without being liable to a fine as long as the conditions set out in that document are complied with:
Producers should still collect and retain all data required for 2023 onwards, just the submission of it, which will result in an application of relevant fees for waste management by the local authorities, can be delayed until 2024. The new provisions do not change the responsibilities under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations SI 2007/871.
April 2025
Mandatory digital waste tracking
DEFRA have confirmed that they plan to introduce mandatory digital waste tracking across the UK from April 2025.
The plans were originally outlined in the Resources and Waste Strategy for England, and consulted on back in January 2022, and will enable the Government to have information about:
Provisions exist in the Environment Act 2021, which amend the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to provide powers to introduce mandatory digital waste tracking regulations. These regulations will place requirements on waste controllers and waste authorities to enter certain information related to the tracking of waste into the waste tracking service.
A range of amendments will be issued, including legislation relating to the:
The waste duty of care codes of practice will also be revised. Although mandatory digital waste tracking will come into force from April 2025, the digital waste tracking service will be publicly available to users on a voluntary basis in 2024.
October 2025
Scotland's Deposit and Return Scheme (DRS) delayed again
The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations SSI 2020/154 have been amended and the implementation date for the scheme delayed again. The Regulations make provision for the operation of a DRS for drinks that are intended to be sold to consumers in Scotland and are contained in single-use packaging made from polyethelene terephthalate plastic, glass, aluminium, and steel, and the packaging for those articles.
Originally the scheme was set to be implemented on 1 July 2022, however an independent industry review found that this date would be undeliverable and consequently the implementation on the scheme was moved to 16 August 2023. Following an internal and independent Gateway review of the readiness of the DRS, the date was then pushed to 1 March 2024.
The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Amendment Regulations SSI 2023/201 amended the main DRS Regulations to change the implementation date, and also simplify the scope of the DRS. Other amendments include:
The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations SSI 2023/334 amended SSI 2020/154 in order to alter the implementation date for Scotland's DRS to 1 October 2025.
2025 to 2027
Recycling reforms
The Government announced reforms to household and bin collections in a bid to boost recycling rates and move to a "common-sense" approach to recycling in England, so that everyone across England can recycle the same things at home, work, school, etc. In addition, most households in England will see weekly waste collections for food waste by 2026 which will be stored and collected in separate bins, whilst dry mixed recycling will continue to be stored together in the same bin.
The Environment Act 2021 currently contains a future amendment to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which will result in the separate collection of recyclable household waste. On 25 October 2023 the Government published a press releasewhich outlined the new requirements for recycling for local authorities, where all:
The Government proposes that local authorities will collect residual (non-recyclable) waste at least fortnightly as minimum and introduce weekly food waste collections for recycling or composting from households. All non-household municipal premises in England will need to arrange separate food waste collections, but will not be required to commit to weekly collections of such waste.
The Government also set out the timeline for the implementation of the revised waste collections:
