Replacement Standard Rules Environmental Permits: Do you need to take action?

The Environment Agency (EA) is making substantial changes to Environmental Permitting in England throughout 2025. The EA has recently published eight new permit Standard Rules sets, replacing 28 Standard Rules sets. These changes cover:

• Treatment of waste to produce soil, soil substitutes, and aggregate
• Construction, demolition, and excavation waste transfer station
• Non-hazardous waste recycling with asbestos, hazardous batteries, cable and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) storage
• Non-hazardous waste transfer with asbestos, hazardous batteries, cable and WEEE storage
• Household waste recycling centres
• Materials recycling facilities
• Waste wood treatment

If you operate under a Standard Rules permit, check whether your Standard Rules set has been replaced.

The new Standard Rules sets and those they replace are as follows:

SLR has put together a summary table of the key conditions of the new Standard Rules sets. This is not an exhaustive list but has been presented as a quick guide on the key issues. See ‘Relevant Downloads’ section to download this summary table.

Take action if needed

If your existing operations can meet the conditions of the new Standard Rules set, the EA have already varied your permit to the conditions of the new Standard Rules, and you will be expected to operate in accordance with those conditions going forward.

If you cannot meet the conditions of the new Standard Rules, then you must either:

Change your activities to meet the new Standard Rules set.

Apply to vary your current permit into a bespoke permit. Applications must be made by 27 June 2025, leaving a short window for operators to assess compliance and apply to vary their permit.

Key changes

There are some notable changes between the withdrawn Standard Rules sets and their new replacement sets. SLR encourages our clients to assess their ability to comply with the new Standard Rules carefully to ensure that the new rules meet requirements for their activities. In some cases, the rules have been made more restrictive compared to the withdrawn sets. In others, the rules have become less restrictive.

Notable changes include changes to:

• Annual throughput limits
• Storage limits
• Storage timeframes and containment
• The European Waste Catalogue (EWC) / List of Waste (LoW) codes and descriptions that can be accepted
• The activities permitted to be undertaken
• Infrastructure requirements including site surfacing and building requirements depending on location and activity
• Location restrictions, including changes to minimum distances from sensitive receptors (e.g. sites of special scientific interest, local wildlife sites, scheduled monuments, watercourses)

In some cases, for example SR 2022 No 5, the EA provides a window of time for certain aspects of the new Standard Rules set to be complied with.

Other upcoming changes – Waste Exemption review

As you may be aware, the waste exemption regime has undergone a review in recent years and the resulting changes are due to be implemented in 2025. One of those changes is that operators will no longer be allowed to register waste exemptions at, or adjacent to, a permitted waste site. If you currently benefit from the additional treatments and waste types offered by an exemption, and you intend to continue to do so, then you will need to include those activities within your permit conditions. It is worth considering now whether your operations onsite can be covered by the new Standard Rules set alone, or whether a bespoke permit is required in future.

SLR is here to help

If you have any doubt on whether your activities can meet the conditions of the new Standard Rules set, please contact us. SLR can assist with:

• Auditing compliance with the replacement Standard Rules sets
• Support with identifying changes to achieve compliance and delivery of changes
• Preparation of environmental permit applications including all supporting technical assessments
• Advising on changes to waste exemptions

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References

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-1-treatment-of-waste-to-produce-soil-soil-substitutes-and-aggregate/sr2022-no-1-treatment-of-waste-to-produce-soil-soil-substitutes-and-aggregate
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-2-mobile-treatment-of-waste-to-produce-soil-soil-substitutes-and-aggregate/sr2022-no-2-mobile-treatment-of-waste-to-produce-soil-soil-substitutes-and-aggregate
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-3-construction-demolition-and-excavation-waste-transfer-station/sr2022-no-3-construction-demolition-and-excavation-waste-transfer-station
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-4-non-hazardous-waste-recycling-with-asbestos-hazardous-batteries-cable-and-weee-storage/sr2022-no-4-non-hazardous-waste-recycling-with-asbestos-hazardous-batteries-cable-and-weee-storage
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-5-non-hazardous-waste-transfer-with-asbestos-hazardous-batteries-cable-and-weee-storage/sr2022-no-5-non-hazardous-waste-transfer-with-asbestos-hazardous-batteries-cable-and-weee-storage
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-6-household-waste-recycling-centre/sr2022-no-6-household-waste-recycling-centre
7. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-7-materials-recycling-facility/sr2022-no-7-materials-recycling-facility
8. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sr2022-no-8-waste-wood-treatment/sr2022-no-8-waste-wood-treatment