In February we were made aware by the EA of some changes which could affect our network, in

particular concern are the changes to T4/S1 and S2 for members who are reliant on waste exemptions for the management of waste carpet.  The message was shared in a timely manner.

Please find details below and what you need to do in case you have any questions and queries.  The EA told they would be contacting exempt holders directly about the reforms in the coming weeks, so hopefully you will have heard from them.

Message from the EA, Feb23

Good afternoon,

We have identified you as an interested stakeholder for waste exemptions. If you are not already aware, the DEFRA response on reforming waste exemptions has been published today and can be found in the supplementary Government response document and associated Annexes.

The reforms will mean operators of some exempt activities will need to stop, change what they are doing or obtain an environmental permit.

No changes will come into force until the Environmental Permitting Regulations are amended. We don’t expect amendments to EPR before 2024 and timescales will depend on Parliamentary time, etc. Some of the changes include transitional periods to allow industry time to adjust.

The key changes are:

Other changes include:

• new rules which will be relevant to all exempt holders, for example on record keeping and for sites with multiple registered exemptions
• new rules on registering exemptions at or adjacent to permitted sites
• changes to waste codes within other exemptions and removal of codes ending in ‘99’

Please review the DEFRA response for further details of the changes.

We hav over 125,000 exemption registrations in England. We will be contacting exempt holders directly this spring to ask them to review their exemptions and deregister what they do not need. We will follow this with information on the reforms and FAQs to help exempt holders get ready for the changes.

We will continue engaging with you and exempt holders directly over the coming weeks and months and welcome your support in communicating the forthcoming changes to your members.

If you would like to ask any general questions about the reforms please email us at wastetreatment@environment-agency.gov.uk and put ‘exemption reforms’ as the subject. Any complaints about the reforms should be directed to DEFRA at defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk (03459 33 55 77)

Separate to the above, you may also be interested in our Environment Agency National Waste Crime Survey which you can access via this link Waste Crime Survey

For any questions and further information

Matthew Kendall
Senior Technical Advisor – Waste Treatment & Storage
Environment & Business Directorate
Environment Agency
matthew.kendall@environment-agency.gov.uk