The Environment Agency has issued a regulatory position statement (RPS) outlining when COVID-19 infectious waste can be incinerated at a municipal facility without the need to vary a permit.
Some clinical waste from hospitals will be able to be processed at municipal facilities under the RPS
Published this week, 15 April, the RPS states that operators can process infectious waste providing they meet a number of conditions.
This includes demonstrating that the producer has used all other appropriate options available for the waste’s treatment, ensuring the waste won’t impact emissions and undertaking testing of incinerator bottom ash to confirm there is no change to its composition.
The RPS only allows operators to process the following, which doesn’t include sharps waste.
- 18 01 03 – orange bagged and containerised infectious waste from human healthcare activities
- 18 01 03 and 18 01 07 – yellow bagged and containerised infectious waste from human activities dual coded with non-hazardous chemicals
- 18 01 04 and 20 01 99 – offensive hygiene wastes (human)
- 15 02 02 – absorbents, filter materials (including oil filters not otherwise specified), wiping cloths, protective clothing, contaminated by hazardous substances (COVID-19 cleansing waste)
Breach
The RPS states that normally, an operator would be in breach of permit conditions if these waste types were accepted beyond those stated in apermit.
The RPS adds: “If you follow the conditions in this COVID-19 regulatory position statement (RPS) you can accept and incinerate COVID-19 infectious waste at a municipal waste incinerator without varying your environmental permit”.
A written agreement from the Environment Agency is required before an operator can use this COVID-19 RPS.
TheRPS will be withdrawn on 30 June 2020. After this date you must have a permit authorising the activity or stop accepting the wastes.
Healthcare waste
The issue of capacity to treat healthcare waste has been a major issue since Healthcare Environmental, which held contracts with 17 trusts in England and with NHS Scotland, went into administration in December 2018.
While some facilities have come online since then, and Defra has said there is sufficient capacity, any increase could be problematic.
Earlier this month, Veolia applied to process orange-bagged healthcare waste at its Tyseley EfW, which would be covered under this RPS.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
