The Prohibition on the Incineration, or the Deposit in Landfill, of Specified Waste (Wales) Regulations 2023

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prohibit the incineration, or the deposit in landfill, of specified types of waste. The types of waste are food, small electrical and electronic equipment, card, cartons, and certain textiles. The prohibition is achieved by adding specified types of waste to Schedule 9, Part 4, paragraph 1 (waste separately collected for preparing for re-use and recycling not to be incinerated) and Schedule 10, paragraph 5A (waste separately collected for preparing for re-use and recycling not to be landfilled) to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1154). In addition to this, there will be a prohibition on the deposit in landfill of waste wood (whether or not separately collected).

A civil sanctions regime is introduced to enable the regulator to impose fixed monetary penalties, variable monetary penalties and non-compliance penalties (regulation 3 and paragraphs 1, 11 and 19 of the Schedule). The regulator for the purposes of these Regulations is Natural Resources Wales save in respect of small waste incineration plants where the local authority for the area in which the plant is situated is the regulator.

These Regulations makes provision for the procedure relating to the civil sanctions, including appeals. Appeals under these Regulations are to be put before the First-tier Tribunal.

The Schedule to these Regulations (paragraphs 25 to 27) provides that guidance relating to the use of civil sanctions must be published. Guidance must also be published relating to the use of non-compliance penalties and enforcement cost recovery notices (paragraph 26). Before any guidance is published, the regulator is required to consult (paragraph 27). The Regulations also provide for the publication of information on enforcement action taken by the regulator (paragraph 28 of the Schedule). The regulator is able to recover certain costs of enforcement (paragraph 22 of the Schedule) in the case of variable monetary penalties.

The regulator is able to recover any fixed monetary penalty, variable monetary penalty or non-compliance penalty imposed by the regulator under the Regulations together with any financial penalty for late payment (paragraph 29 of the Schedule).

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Welsh Government at Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ and on the Welsh Government website at www.gov.wales.