Guidance

Collecting food waste from different premises at a single site: RPS 225

Published 13 January 2020

This guidance was withdrawn on

RPS 225 has been replaced by ‘Collect and treat waste from different sites within the same premises: RPS 224’.

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/collecting-food-waste-from-different-premises-at-a-single-site-rps-225/collecting-food-waste-from-different-premises-at-a-single-site-rps-225

You need an environmental permit for a waste operation if you treat and store waste that you are collecting. This does not apply if the activity falls within Part 5, Schedule 3 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

We are currently reviewing this position. As an interim measure we have produced the following regulatory position statements (RPSs):

If you comply with this RPS you can collect (but not treat) food waste produced at different premises within a single identifiable site, and store it within the same site. ‘Collecting waste’ means gathering waste, and includes storing it before its onward transportation to a waste management facility.

This RPS does not apply to any other activity, even if it is under the same legislation. You may still need other permits or licences for other activities you carry out.

Conditions you must comply with

This RPS only applies to:

  • food waste
  • gathering and storing food waste – you must not carry out any treatment
  • waste that is produced and stored on the same site, owned or operated by (or on behalf of) a single owner or occupier
  • waste collected by contractors employed by (or on behalf of) the owner or operator of the site

In this RPS we define food waste in accordance with the definition of food given in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002.

You must make sure that your activity does not endanger human health or the environment. You must not:

  • cause a risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals
  • cause a nuisance through noise or odours
  • adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest

You must keep records for 2 years that show you have complied with this RPS. You must make these records available to the Environment Agency on request.

Storing waste

You must:

  • gather and store food waste separately from any other type of waste
  • store waste in a secure place – one where you have taken all reasonable precautions to prevent waste escaping and where members of the public cannot access it
  • store putrescible waste (organic matter that will decompose) in a fully enclosed container to prevent and minimise odour and access by vermin and pests
  • store liquid waste in a suitable leak-proof container with secondary containment, such as a bund or any other system that prevents waste escaping

Storage limits

You can only store:

  • waste that you are collecting for onward transportation
  • a maximum of 50 cubic metres of food waste at any one time on the same site

Storage times

You must not store waste for any longer than is needed to allow transportation onto a waste management facility. In any event, you must not store the waste for more than 7 days.

Duty of care records

This RPS does not remove the need for the information required by Regulation 35 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 to be provided whenever waste is exchanged between parties. For example, waste transfer notes between each producer and the collector, and also between the collector and the carriers taking the waste away from the site.

Enforcement

An RPS means that the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you provided:

  • your activity meets the description set out in this RPS
  • you comply with the conditions set out in this RPS
  • your activity does not, and is not likely to, cause environmental pollution or harm human health

When to check back

This RPS will be reviewed by December 2020. You will need to check back then to see if it still applies or if you need to apply for a permit.

Contact the Environment Agency

General enquiries

National Customer Contact Centre
PO Box 544
Rotherham
S60 1BY

Email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Telephone 03708 506 506

Telephone from outside the UK (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm GMT) +44 (0) 114 282 5312

Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

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