CIWM has just published their formal response to Defra’s two recent high-profile consultations.
The first was on the reform of the waste carrier, broker, dealer registration system (CBD) in England. The current system requires any person or business that transports waste, buys and sells waste, or arranges the transportation of waste in England to be registered with the Environment Agency as a waste carrier, broker or dealer. The Independent Review into Serious and Organised Crime in the Waste Sector in 2018 highlighted “the extent to which waste is handled by an increasing number of, often opaque, intermediaries” and recommended that “Registration and duty of care requirements for carriers, brokers and dealers should be reformed.” This consultation sought feedback on Defra’s proposals designed to ensure that controlled waste in England is moved or traded by permitted and technically competent operators.
The second of these consultations was on the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking. Currently, over 200 million tonnes of waste is produced in the UK each year but there is currently no single or comprehensive way of tracking it from cradle-to-grave. The ability to collect and collate large amounts of data will make it much easier for legitimate waste companies to comply with regulator reporting requirements whilst at the same time making it harder for rogue operators to do business and distort the market.
In general, CIWM has welcomed Defra’s proposals and remarked that they were taking a step in the right direction. When implemented in unison, they would create a more coherent picture of waste and resources movements throughout the UK and shine a light into some of the darker corners of the sector.
Lee Marshall, Policy & External Affairs Director, CIWM, comments, “We hope that these proposals, if enacted, will be accompanied by enough funding that will allow the regulators to make the most of these new tools, so that they can further clamp down on waste crime. However, the CIWM was disappointed to note that the proposals for Carriers, Brokers and Dealers did not cover the whole of the UK.”
The comprehensive CIWM responses were put together with significant input and insight from CIWM members, bringing their knowledge and experience to bear and ensuring the responses were detailed and well thought through. The full CIWM response to both Defra’s proposals can be found here.
