Fortnightly Bulletin – 20th February 2023
24 February 2023
Guidance
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Public Registers
This updated guidance includes the updated registers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) producers, approved exporters, approved authorised treatment facilities and producer compliance schemes.
Source: gov.uk
To access the full updated guidance, click here.
S1 Waste Exemption: Store Waste In Secure Containers
This updated guidance includes details surrounding the S1 waste exemption. The S1 waste exemption lets you store certain waste in secure containers at a site separate to where it was produced, before transportation to another site for recovery.
Types of activities that can be carried out under this waste exemption include:
- storing waste oil in a tank at an intermediate site before it’s moved to another site to be recovered,
- storing and bulking-up plastic packaging in a container at a place before it’s moved to another site to be recovered.
Types of activities that cannot be carried out under this waste exemption include:
- treating waste,
- storing waste destined to be disposed of,
- storing mixed waste,
- mixing hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste.
This guidance has been updated to include information about changes to this waste exemption that are likely to happen during 2024 to 2025.
Source: gov.uk
To access the full updated guidance, click here.
Articles of Interest
Biden Restores Protection To Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
Last week marked a long-awaited victory for Mr Jackson, other tribes and environmental groups who petitioned the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reinstate the protections for the forest.
The agency announced last Wednesday it would once again ban logging and the construction of roads for cutting timber in over half of the Tongass.
The decision follows a years-long conflict between Alaskan Republican officials – who have argued the rule has slowed economic development and that renewing it will hamper efforts to connect remote communities by road, among other concerns – and conservationists, indigenous groups and others who say the measure is key to protecting the environment.
Spanning nearly 17 million acres – an area slightly larger than the state of West Virginia – the Tongass stores 44% of all the carbon dioxide contained in national forests across the country, according to the Alaska Conservation Foundation.
One of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests, it is home to 800-year-old cedar, hemlock and Sitka spruce trees that help provide habitats for over 400 species of land and marine wildlife.
Environmental experts view protecting the forest as key to conserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change.
To read the full article, click here.
BP Scales Back Climate Targets As Profits Hit Record
Energy giant, BP, has reported record annual profits as it scaled back plans to reduce the amount of oil and gas it produces by 2030. The company’s profits more than doubled to $27.7bn (£23bn) in 2022, as energy prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Other energy firms have seen similar rises, with Shell reporting record earnings of nearly $40bn last week. It has led to calls for energy firms to pay more tax as people’s bills soar. BP boss, Bernard Looney, said the British company was “helping provide the energy the world needs” while investing the transition to green energy.
Climate campaign group, Greenpeace, whose voice the BBC has included because of the impact of oil and gas production on the environment, said BP’s new strategy “seems to have been strongly undermined by pressure from investors and governments to make even more dirty money out of oil and gas”.
Source: BBC News
To read the full article, click here.
Fines and Prosecutions
Council’s New Serious Environmental Crime Team Scores Victory With Successful Prosecution Of Serial Fly Tipper
Leeds City Council’s new Serious Environmental Crime Team (SECT) scored another victory this week with a successful prosecution of a serial fly tipper.
The specialist team, which was set up by Leeds City Council last year, worked alongside colleagues from Wakefield Council to successfully prosecute a 29-year-old male individual.
The male individual was handed a 39-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, together with 300 hours of unpaid work at Kirklees Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a series of fly tipping-related offences, two of which were in Leeds. A Criminal Behaviour Order and forfeiture of Clayton’s vehicle was also ordered.
A search of the individual’s social media showed he was actively promoting the company and investigators found a link between the business phone number and the male. Residents were paying the company money to have their waste removed, unaware it was being fly tipped. Upon interview, the male individual failed to produce any of the documents to prove he held a Waste Carriers Licence and disposed of his business waste legally.
Source: leeds.gov.uk
To read more about this prosecution, click here.
Online Learning and Events
A Biodiversity Framework For Business
1st March 2023 12:00 – 13:00
Over half of global GDP depends upon nature. The Nature Positive Business Pledge aims to a create a framework of core principles and good practice that can be used for getting started on reducing biodiversity impacts and to build on achievements and report.
In this webinar we hear from those who have signed up to find out the value of the Pledge, the challenges, and what actions business might take as part of the Pledge.
