The Environment Agency has updated guidance on the U1 waste exemption, which allows certain suitable waste materials to be used in construction, landscaping, drainage works and maintenance of linear networks. The guidance sets out activity-specific tonnage limits, contamination restrictions, validity periods and the need to comply with other permissions such as flood risk permits and planning consent.
The Environment Agency has updated guidance on the information required for noise impact assessments that use computer modelling or spreadsheet calculations. The guidance sets out detailed submission requirements for site, plant, building, barrier, terrain and receptor data, and notes that incomplete applications may be delayed.
The Environment Agency has announced two further arrests in its ongoing investigation into large-scale illegal waste dumping at a site in Kidlington, bringing the total number of arrests to six. The site was previously closed by court order and has since been fully cleaned, with more than 22,000 tonnes of waste removed.
The Environment Agency has updated its guidance on CEN and ISO monitoring methods for discharges to water, including the addition of new standards for several pollutants and the replacement of the PFOS/PFOA standard with one for PFAS. The document notes that some updated methods, including those for biochemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen, supersede previous versions.
The Environment Agency has issued Regulatory Position Statement RPS 376 on the storage of waste PFOA-containing firefighting foams and related decontamination and replacement wastes. It explains when the Agency will not normally take enforcement action if these wastes are stored longer than permitted under non-waste framework directive exemptions, provided the stated conditions are met.
The Environment Agency has updated its low risk waste positions for certain animal and animal waste activities, including withdrawals, replacements and a minor clarification to one position. The guidance emphasises that operators must check whether an LRWP remains in force and comply with any conditions, including where regulatory position statements now apply.
The Environment Agency has issued a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS 377) covering large producers that stop performing producer functions and the related requirement to register and report data. It confirms that the underlying legal obligations remain in place, but the regulator will not normally take enforcement action where the RPS conditions are met.
