New and updated guidance issued on Persistent Organic Pollutants

On 19 December 2022, the Environment Agency issued new and updated guidance notes on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Juli Lau and Gonzalo Puertas look at what they cover and set out the next steps for local and waste authorities.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”) are chemical substances that need to be treated carefully as they do not break down in the environment and are a danger to human health and the environment.

Legislative framework for POPs in the UK

The UK is a party to the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to eliminate or restrict the use of POPs. The UK obligations under the Convention are further regulated by the Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on POPs, which is retained EU legislation and the main piece of POPs legislation in the UK, and the Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007 (as amended).

New and updated guidance on POPs

The Environment Agency's (“EA's”) new guidance notes cover the following areas:

How to identify, classify, manage, permanently store, destroy, recycle, recover, and reuse waste containing POPs;
How to identify, describe, classify, manage, segregate, and temporarily store waste upholstered domestic seating containing or that may contain POPs;
How to check if an item of waste electrical and electronic equipment or a component removed from it contains POPs;
How to calculate the concentrations of certain POPs; and
When certain POPs and equipment, products or materials containing them, can be used, and how to register, label and dispose of them.

Under this new set of guidance, local authorities are required to identify and classify waste before they send it for recycling or disposal, including a description of the waste in the paperwork they give to their waste contractor, following a determination of the chemical composition of the waste to check if it contains POPs. Also, local authorities must avoid mixing waste upholstered domestic seating containing POPs with other waste. Otherwise, they must manage the whole load as POPs waste.

Next steps

Along with the guidance above, EA issued regulatory position statements (RPS) on:

Application of RPS does not change the relevant POPs obligations. However, it may avoid EA taking enforcement action subject to compliance with reporting requirements, operational conditions, and timeframes. RPS 264 and 265 expire, and RPS 265 will be reviewed, by 1 December 2024 unless they are withdrawn or amended earlier if EA consider it necessary.

It is worth noting that if the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 is passed in its current form, the EU POPs Regulation would cease to apply in the UK. However, the government could choose to introduce a new UK statutory instrument which replicates the content of the EU POPs Regulation, or which sets out specific measures and requirements regarding the management of POPs waste.

Also, there is an on-going consultation launched by Defra until 27 April 2023 on a number of proposed changes to retained Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, which responses will be considered before introducing new secondary legislation. The changes proposed include, among others, amending and/or addition of POPs waste concentration limits, and the removal of specific exemptions for several POPs.

Following the new set of guidance and RPS on POPs, waste authorities will need to consider how any operational and technical changes to waste arrangements currently in place might need to be addressed within their organisations and from a contractual perspective with their contractors.

We advise waste authorities on all manner of issues relating to the waste sector and our experts are keeping a close eye on changes in waste legislation and policy to guide authorities through the intricacies of the waste reforms and to advise on any other waste related issues, including managing waste containing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

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