Digital Waste Tracking: business regulatory impact assessment

Footnotes

1 A later commencement date is required in Scotland to allow for the delegation of certain functions associated with operating the digital waste tracking system, accounting for the impact of Scottish Parliament elections.

2 Waste from all sources generated and managed 2023

3 Scale and Cost of Litter and Flytipping

4 Waste that displays specified properties that might make it more harmful to human health or the environment if not managed appropriately.

5 POPs waste is toxic, bioaccumulative, long-ranging and does not break down in the environment and can be found in a wide range of products from sofas to IT equipment.

6 An environmental permit gives “permission” to an operator to carry out a set of particular activities.

7 Waste exemptions allow waste operations considered low risk to be carried out according to general rules, without the need to apply for an environmental permit.

8 The number of waste movements does not feed into the cost benefit analysis.

9 Estimates have not been published.

10 This is likely to be an underestimate of total waste transfers as the total waste transfer notes figure does not include transfers of waste that are carried out using a season ticket.

11 3-year average over 2016, 2017 and 2018

12 All businesses that produce or handle waste are required under Section 34 of The Environmental Protection Act 1990, as it extends to Scotland, to complete a written description of waste when they transfer it to someone else Environmental Protection Act 1990

13 Duty of care: code of practice for managing controlled waste

14 At time of publication the Scottish Government is consulting on updates to The Duty of Care Code of Practice for managing controlled waste, available at Duty of care code of practice for managing controlled waste (consultation draft) - gov.scot

15 EDOC Online

16 The Special Waste Regulations 1996

17 Examples of additional information required are: details of where waste will be taken, details of the process which has given rise to the waste, chemical component details and UN classification numbers.

18 This is controlled by separate legislation involving equivalent notes - The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007.

19 The EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) was amended by Directive (EU) 2018/851 to require EU member states to set up a digital registry for hazardous waste to record the data on hazardous waste which persons carrying out authorised waste management activities were required to record, covering its quantity, origin, treatment, and destination.

20 Regulation (EU) No 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants is now assimilated law. Article 7 was amended by by The Persistent Organic Pollutant (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 to require the Scottish Ministers to take measures to ensure the control and traceability of waste containing POPs.

21 For example, wastedataflow, National Packaging Waste Database, and digital Duty of Care

22 Estimates based on a 2021 questionnaire to the Waste Tracking user panel. The Waste Tracking User Panel has around 1200 members representing waste producers, carriers, brokers, dealers, waste site operators, local authorities and regulators from across the UK, 450 of which operate in Scotland.

23 Waste exemptions allow waste operations considered low risk to be carried out according to general rules, without the need to apply for a waste management licence/permit. In Scotland, many exempt sites are subject to the rules regarding consignment and waste transfer notes.

24 UK statistics on waste - GOV.UK

25 Duty of care: code of practice for managing controlled waste - gov.scot

26 Independent Review into Serious and Organised Crime in the waste sector, November 2018

27 Counting the cost of UK Waste Crime, 2021, commissioned by the Environmental Services Association and written by Eunomia. The specific costs monetised include the cost of illegal waste sites, illegal burning, fly-tipping, misclassification and fraud, illegal exports of waste, serious breaches of waste permits and exemptions and local authority and EA enforcement activities.

28 Introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking - Defra - Citizen Space

29 Government response - GOV.UK

30 The EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) was amended by Directive (EU) 2018/851 to require EU member states to set up a digital registry for hazardous waste to record the data on hazardous waste which persons carrying out authorised waste management activities were required to record, covering its quantity, origin, treatment, and destination.

31 Regulation (EU) No 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants, as it forms part of domestic law on and after Transition Period completion day

32 UK Government Guidance - Waste: Export and Import

33 In Scotland this refers to operators that receive controlled waste at a permitted facility, excluding household waste and recycling centres

34 A later commencement date is required in Scotland to allow for the delegation of certain functions associated with operating the digital waste tracking system, accounting for the impact of Scottish Parliament elections.

35 Mandating that digital records of all waste movements and transfers are held and submitted by obligated businesses is an alternative scenario to the baseline – a new Waste Tracking service for all waste, rather than just hazardous waste and POPs waste. Local Authority Household Waste and Recycling Centres are excluded from recording waste received.

36 The population share for Scotland is taken as 8.0% of the total UK population, Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland - Office for National Statistics

37 The population share for Scotland is taken as 8.0% of the total UK population, Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland - Office for National Statistics

38 Policy Paper: Open Standards principles

39 A Waste Tracking system for hazardous waste will negate the need for formal consignment returns, instead collecting data through the digital system, businesses handling hazardous waste will still need to pay for the running of the hazardous waste regime – likely to be similar to the current consignment fee system – more compliance will mean higher fees.

40 SLfT rates and accounting periods

41 Waste sites must make sure that a unique code has been applied to the waste, and will need to share the details of the waste movement/transfer with the party that previously handled the waste and the party where the waste is moved to.

42 Earnings and hours worked, by industry and occupation: ASHE Table 29 - Office for National Statistics

433 Inactive waste covers most materials used in a building's fabric as well as earth excavated for foundations. Most forms of concrete, brick, glass, soil, clay and gravel are classified as inactive.

44 SLfT rates and accounting periods

45 The Waste Tracking service will provide intelligence and evidence to assist the regulators with compliance monitoring and targeted enforcement activity.

46 The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 define the procedures, offences and penalties relating to the export of waste from the UK.

47 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) median 2020 wage for “Private, Waste disposal and environmental services managers”.

48 ESA: Rethinking Waste Crime

49 ESA: Rethinking Waste Crime

50 Unpublished data

51 A later commencement date is required in Scotland to allow for the delegation of certain functions associated with operating the digital waste tracking system, accounting for the impact of Scottish Parliament elections.