Waste management - sampling and reporting at materials facilities: draft code of practice

1. Introduction and Scope

This draft code of practice was open for consultation until 19 April 2024 and is available for review in advance of the final code publication.

1. This Code of Practice (“the Code”) sets out the requirements for sampling and reporting of materials handled by materials facilities (MFs). The purpose of this Code is to provide guidance to those authorised to operate an MF on the discharge of certain duties, specifically the duties in section 34(2L)(b) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. If you are uncertain about what your facility needs to do to comply with the Code, you should contact SEPA.

2. If you are authorised to operate a materials facility (an “authorised MF operator”) then you must comply with this Code or risk being deemed noncompliant with the conditions of your authorisation. That is the case whether you:

a) Hold a waste-management licence;

b) Are exempt from the requirement to hold a waste-management licence under paragraph 11 and/or 17 of the Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011;

c) Hold a PPC permit.

3. Different categories of MF have different obligations under this Code. In particular, an MF that receives or is likely to receive less than 1,000 tonnes of dry recyclable waste (mixed or single stream) in any reporting year does not have any obligations under this Code. Table 1 summarises the obligations of different categories of MF.

4. The Code has been prepared under section 34(7) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended). It replaces the Code of Practice issued by the Scottish Ministers on 2 March 2015. This new Code makes some substantial changes from the previous Code. In particular, it increases the required sampling frequency for input sampling, introduces new material categories to be sampled and reported, and brings certain bulking facilities into scope (as set out in Table 1 above). The purpose of these changes is to support the introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging by providing the data required for the packaging EPR Scheme Administrator to calculate local authorities’ disposal costs.

5. Section 7 defines key terms used throughout this Code. If you are unsure about the meaning of any terms used, you should contact SEPA.