International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

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The introduction of this measure in 2013 would give greater certainty that
targets under Article 5 of the Landfill Directive – especially for 2013, but also
for 2016 - would be met.
This sequencing would recognise the fact that in the short-term, the potential for
radical change is limited, but that as soon as is prudent, the requirement to pre-treat
waste to ensure that the required stability threshold is met is introduced.
51.5.3 Statutory Instrument
In August 2009, DoEHLG published a Draft of a Statutory Instrument the Waste
Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009. Regulation 7 states:
7. (1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4) and without prejudice to the power of
any local authority to provide for additional policy objectives under a relevant
waste management plan or to apply more onerous conditions under a waste
collection permit or under a waste presentation bye-law, a producer shall
ensure, as a minimum, that -
(a) food waste arising on the producer’s premises is source segregated
and kept separate from non-biodegradable materials, other waste and
contaminants, and
(b) source segregated food waste arising on the producer’s premises is
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International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes
(i) collected by an authorised waste collector and transferred to
an authorised biological treatment facility, or
(ii) subjected to biological treatment in an authorised facility on
the premises where the food waste was produced, or
(iii) transferred directly by the producer to an authorised facility
for the purposes of biological treatment, subject to the producer
being able to produce satisfactory documentary evidence, in the
reasonable opinion of the local authority, of the acceptance of
the food waste at the facility.
For the purposes of this Regulation, producers are defined under Schedule 1 of the
Draft Regulations.
The Regulations are due to come into operation in January 2010, but the Regulations
of greatest relevance (including Regulation 7) will take effect from 1 July 2010. These
Regulations are clearly well-intended, but the challenge will be to ensure both that the
roll-out of food waste collection is sufficiently rapid, and that the require treatment
capacity will be in place. The latter is the more worrying. In this respect, it is worth
noting that ‘biological treatment’ is defined as:
“biological treatment”, , for the purposes of these regulations, refers to -
(a) an aerobic process, or
(b) an anaerobic process, or
(c) any heat induced digestion process