Fortnightly Bulletin – 26th June 2023
26 June 2023
Guidance
Licensed waste facilities that accept waste F gas and ozone depleting substances
You must send F gas and ozone-depleting substances recovered from equipment to a licensed waste facility that accepts waste F gas and ozone-depleting substances, to get them:
Waste facilities on this list have confirmed with the Environment Agency that they can accept waste F gas and ozone-depleting substances.
You may be able to find other waste facilities more local to you using the Environmental Permitting Regulations – Waste Operations finder and searching by postcode. However, you will need to contact them to find out if they accept waste F gas and ozone-depleting substances.
Source: gov.uk
Packaging data: how to create a file for extended producer responsibility
How to structure your packaging data submission. It includes information about the different types of data you need to submit and the codes you need to use.
If you’re an organisation that supplies packaging to consumers and businesses in the UK, you may have to take action to comply with extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging.
You may need to collect and submit data about packaging you’ve supplied through the UK market, or any filled packaging you have imported, emptied and discarded in the UK.
You may also have to report data about which country in the UK packaging is supplied in and which country in the UK packaging is discarded in. This is called nation data.
Source: gov.uk
Articles of Interest
Sudden heat increase in seas around the United Kingdom and Ireland
Some of the most intense marine heat increases on earth have developed in seas around the UK and Ireland, the European Space Agency (ESA) says.
Water temperatures are as much as three to four degrees above the average for this time of year in some areas, according to analysis by ESA and the Met Office.
The sea is particularly warm off the UK’s east coast from Durham to Aberdeen, and off north-west Ireland. The Met Office says the reason is partly human-caused climate change. Marine heatwaves – prolonged periods of unusually high sea surface temperatures – are also associated with more extreme weather because storm systems pick up more energy and can become more intense and longer-lasting.
The warm sea around the UK comes as air and ocean surface temperatures worldwide have been spiking sharply in recent months. Global sea surface temperatures for both April and May were the highest ever recorded in Met Office data that goes all the way back to 1850.
In May the average ocean temperature was 0.85C higher than normal for the month, according to figures from the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Professor Albert Klein Tank, the head of the Met Office’s Hadley climate research centre, does not believe the array of global temperature records signals that the Earth has passed some kind of climate tipping-point.
“All of these elements are part of natural variation within the climate system which are coming together to elevate sea-surface temperatures to higher levels”, he says.
Source: BBC News
Click here for the full article.
Ministers to block plans to ban new coal mines
The government is planning to remove a ban on opening new coal mines from a bill that is going through Parliament.
The ban was added to the Energy Bill by peers in the House of Lords.
Ministers also plan to drop changes to the bill which would have enabled small community energy projects to sell electricity directly to local homes.
Green MP Caroline Lucas called the decision “reckless” and said the amendments should be reinstated “immediately”.
A government spokesperson said it was made after “careful consideration” and they would continue to engage with parliamentarians.
The amendment to ban the opening of new coal mines was approved by the House of Lords in April by a majority of just three with 197 peers voting in favour of the motion and 194 against. Introducing his amendment Liberal Democrat Lord Teverson said he had previously believed a ban was not necessary because it was “totally and absolutely obvious” that building a new coal mine “would be a really stupid thing for a country to do”.
However, he told peers he had changed his mind after the government’s decision to allow a new mine to be built in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
“If that happens once, it can happen again – that is why this amendment is so important,” he said.
Opposing the amendment, minister Lord Callanan said the government was committed to phasing out coal but argued that an outright ban could cause a “severe weakening of our security of supply”.
Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband had said Labour would back the ban, but the government plans to remove the amendment from the bill at committee stage, where a bill is examined in detail before it reaches a vote of the whole House of Commons.
Source: BBC News
Click here for the full article.
Fines and Prosecutions
Fourth man sentenced for illegal Lincolnshire waste site
A fourth man operating from a Skegness waste site has been sentenced following an investigation by the Environment Agency.
The individual was sentenced on 25 May following that of three other men earlier that month.
Between June 2015 and April 2017, four individuals managed businesses operating from the former Bowman’s site, in Lincolnshire, near the A52.
On 8 June 2015, the site’s environmental permit was transferred to East Coast Recycling Properties Ltd., which was run by three of the individuals. This permit allowed for the processing of mixed waste with a view to extracting recyclable materials.
The Environment Agency began to conduct inspections at the site shortly afterwards and quickly found failings. The site’s permit required a fire-prevention plan to be in place to avoid a serious blaze and protect the environment. This was especially important as the site was surrounded by arable land and the nearest residential premises were only 10m away. However, two of the individuals failed to have such a plan in place leaving the site at risk.
Inspections found that waste was being stacked too high and too closely together, creating a fire-risk. The waste had also become a health-risk following an influx of mice and a problem with flies. As a result, the Environment Agency suspended the site’s permit, stopping new material from being brought in between December 2015 and February 2016.
Source: Gov.uk
For more information, click here.
Online Learning and Events
Webinar: first annual conference on nature-based solutions using carbon and biodiversity credit funding
27th and 28th June 2023
This conference organised by the University of Lincoln in partnership with the IEMA offers the first opportunity for bringing together representatives from all these areas to share information and work together to realise these goals.
The conference will enable conversations between all participants through a series of interactive Panel-based discussions involving public, private, NGO and research sector representatives from the UK, Europe, USA, Central America and South East Asia.
Delegates will be able to meet and network informally throughout the event, which includes a drinks evening and has dedicated breakout rooms for ad hoc discussions during the conference.
