Under the new regulations, the current carriers, brokers and dealers registration regime will be replaced by a full environmental permitting system, bringing waste controllers and transporters into the same regulatory framework as other permitted waste activities. Applicants will face identity, tax and criminal record checks, together with requirements to demonstrate technical competence before being permitted to operate.
Parliament has approved new regulations implementing an environmental permitting regime for waste carriers. The move marks a significant milestone in the government’s programme of waste crime reform and delivers one of the principal recommendations set out in Breaking the Cycle: Tackling Fly-Tipping and Waste Crime in the UK, the recent report published jointly by Future Countryside and the National Rural Crime Network (NRCN).
During the House of Commons debate on 6 July, Waste Minister Mary Creagh MP described the existing waste carrier registration system as “not fit for purpose”, arguing that its light-touch approach had been exploited by criminals for decades. Under the new regulations, the current carriers, brokers and dealers registration regime will be replaced by a full environmental permitting system, bringing waste controllers and transporters into the same regulatory framework as other permitted waste activities. Applicants will face identity, tax and criminal record checks, together with requirements to demonstrate technical competence before being permitted to operate.
As the Future Countryside and NRCN report concluded, the existing registration regime has allowed rogue operators to enter the market with minimal scrutiny, while offering regulators few meaningful enforcement tools. As well as moving to environmental permitting, the report called on the government to monitor the effectiveness of the new regime rigorously in the future.