Waste Wood Operators to follow the New Regulatory Position Statement
W
aste processors and recyclers have been getting themselves up to speed regarding
a new Regulatory Position Statement (“RPS”) issued by the Environment Agency concerning the classifi cation of waste wood from mixed waste wood sources.
T e RPS has been developed by the Agency following concerns raised in the UK about whether treated waste wood was being misdescribed as untreated, clean grade A material and was ending up in non IED Chapter IV-compliant boilers. T e Agency started working closely with the Wood Recyclers’ Association (“WRA”) and UROC to come up with a solution to this problem and agreed that an RPS was needed to allow industry and others time to collate the evidence and testing required.
Any operator handling mixed waste wood now must review their procedures in line with the RPS, which was issued at the end of November 2017. However, the key issue within the RPS is that it continues to allow ‘mixed waste wood’ to be coded and moved under a non-hazardous waste code as long as it only goes to two end uses;
1. Panel board; or 2. Chapter IV Industrial Emissions Directive compliant boilers.
Andy Hill, Chair of the WRA, said the association had been asked by the Agency to lead a Waste Wood Working Group including; waste management companies, manufacturers, other trade associations, local authority representatives and representation from the Agency’s technical team, to come up with a longer-term solution to ensure that:
• Waste wood is properly classifi ed at the front-end
• T e people who process wood further check and maintain that classifi cation
• T ose taking the processed wood ensure they use suitable wood for end users
“We have been leading a number of industry-wide workshops focusing on the future testing required to reach an evidence-based, practical and risk-based solution to this issue.
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“In the meantime, it has been agreed with the Agency that the current situation regarding the two specifi ed end users can continue until November 2018, while the Waste Wood Working Group carries out further waste analysis and assessment to shape what happens in the future.”
Over the next 12 months the WRA and UROC will continue to work on the fi rst phase of an Industry Code of Practice, which will lay out strict guidance for how mixed waste wood should be assessed and handled at all stages of the waste wood supply chain.
T e RPS states that only clearly identifi able clean untreated waste wood is suitable for animal bedding or non-WID boilers.
As a precautionary measure, hazardous waste classifi cation and the associated consignment requirement will be applied to mixed waste wood loads in any other situation.
Waste wood currently recognised as hazardous, such as railway sleepers, telegraph poles and wood treated with creosote must continue to be segregated as hazardous waste wood and consigned as hazardous waste to appropriately permitted facilities.
T e Waste Wood Working Group will continue to work closely with industry in 2018 to carry out further tests on the components of mixed waste wood loads to feedback as evidence to the Agency.
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