Head Office Press Office
- 26-Oct-2007 - With almost 75,000 tonnes
of waste vegetable oil being transformed
into biodiesel each year, a Quality Protocol
consultation launched today by the Environment
Agency and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action
Programme) aiming to cut regulatory red-tape
so that waste vegetable oil from places
like chip shops can be processed and used
in engines more easily.
Martin Brocklehurst, Head of External Programmes
at the Environment Agency, said: "Biodiesel
derived from waste vegetable oil is carbon-neutral;
it reduces waste and improves resource efficiency.
"We have worked with the biodiesel
industry to develop a Quality Protocol for
waste vegetable oil, which will save businesses
the time and costs associated with meeting
waste regulations.
"In deregulating biodiesel made from
waste vegetable oil, the product can better
compete with biodiesel derived from virgin
oil. This will also increase the volume
of waste vegetable oil recovered from places
like take-aways, restaurants, chip shops
and food manufacturing sites. It should
also reduce the amount disposed to sewer
with all the benefits that will bring to
the water industry.
"We are now launching a 12-week consultation
and invite wider industry, trade bodies
and the public to respond to this consultation."
By 2008/09, at least 2.5 per cent of fuel
consumed in the United Kingdom must be biofuel,
rising to five per cent in 2010/11.
"Despite approximately 100,000 tonnes
of waste vegetable oil being collected from
the catering and food industries each year,
a considerable amount still goes uncollected
and often ends up being poured down the
drain. But a Quality Protocol should help
stimulate the biodiesel industry to access
this resource by providing assurances that
waste vegetable oil and virgin oil can produce
biodiesel of virtually the same quality",
continued Martin Brocklehurst.
Waste vegetable oil has a high calorific
value and although it may have come to the
end of its useful life in cooking, the energy
contained within is still present and can
be used. In order to encourage the use of
biodiesel derived from waste vegetable oil,
biodiesel which meets the requirements of
the Quality Protocol will not longer be
require environmental authorisations for
its storage and use as an engine fuel.
WRAP’s Dr Richard Swannell, Joint Project
Executive for the Waste Protocols Project,
said: "The Waste Protocols Project,
run jointly by the Environment Agency and
WRAP, demonstrates the benefits of working
in collaboration with trade bodies, business
and industry to develop solutions that meets
the needs of the market whilst also protecting
the environment. It shows a good example
of the Environment Agency and WRAP easing
regulation and creating new business opportunities."
For further information and to participate
in the consultation, visit http://qpyr1.dialoguebydesign.net/.
+ More
Driving down pollution from car washes
Head Office Press Office - 24-Oct-2007
- Car washing businesses will now have no
excuse for allowing run-off to pollute waterways
after the Environment Agency published new
good-practice guidance.
Along with the Scottish Environment Protection
Agency and Northern Ireland’s Environment
and Heritage Service, the Environment Agency
for England and Wales has produced new Pollution
Prevention Guidelines (PPG 13) covering
all methods of vehicle washing and cleaning,
including automatic wash systems, washing
by hand and using high pressure or steam
cleaners.
The Environment Agency’s Pollution Prevention
Advisor, Teresa Brown, said "Run-off
from washing vehicles, particularly on a
commercial scale, contributes to diffuse
pollution that puts our wildlife at risk.
If you discharge trade effluent - such as
water contaminated with oil, detergents
or sludge - into the environment or into
drains without permission, you are breaking
the law.
"With the rising popularity of car-washing
businesses in retail and industrial premises
- such as supermarket car parks and former
petrol filling stations - the risk that
run-off will flow into storm water drains
and pollute rivers is higher than ever.
"Dirt, brake dust, traffic film residues
and oil that are washed off vehicles are
all pollutants. Cleaning detergents and
chemicals that are used, even those labelled
biodegradable, can also be very poisonous
to river life."
The runoff produced from vehicle washing
carried out as a business or industrial
activity is classified as trade effluent,
and must be dealt with properly to avoid
causing pollution.
If you cause pollution in England and Wales,
under the Water Resources Act, a person/business
can be fined up to £20,000 and/or
up to 3 months in prison.
The new PPG 13 guidelines include easy
to follow advice on:
• Where you should and should not clean
vehicles
• Obligations regarding discharges to public
sewers
• Options if public foul sewers are not
available
• Drainage systems
• Using and storing detergents and cleaning
chemicals
• Resource efficiency and waste minimisation
• Cleaning up chemical spills
• Good practice for different washing methods
(i.e. Automated systems, washing by hand).
PPG 13 - Good Practice Guidance to Prevent
Pollution from Vehicle Washing and Cleaning
Activities can be downloaded free of charge
from http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ppg
Hardcopies can be ordered from http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/publications
+ More
Farmer fined for polluting river with slurry
Paul Gainey - 23-Oct-2007 - Farmer Richard
Weeks was ordered to pay £1,955 in
fines and costs after slurry escaped into
a tributary of the Abbey River at Hartland,
Devon. The case was brought by the Environment
Agency.
The spill was reported to the Agency on
March 22, 2007 and investigating Environment
Officers traced the slurry to Baxworthy
Farm, Baxworthy in Bideford, Devon, owned
by Richard Weeks.
Cattle slurry being spread onto fields
by a contractor had run off and into adjacent
streams.
The investigation revealed this was caused
by a number of factors including a compacted
field unable to soak up the slurry, overnight
rain and overspreading, which led to the
fields being saturated.
The Abbey River is a high quality river
that is known to support significant populations
of salmon and these levels of ammonia have
the potential to harm the habitat living
in the river.
‘The discharge of slurry was stronger than
crude sewage and would have been toxic to
fish and other aquatic life for some way
down the stream,’ said Sean McKay from the
Environment Agency.
‘Richard Weeks has been fully co-operative
during the investigation. The farm owner
made efforts to remedy the effects of the
pollution but it could have been avoided
if the fields had been checked after the
rain and they had ploughed in after the
spreading. Farmers must take extreme care
with streams and rivers on their farms.’
Appearing before Barnstaple magistrates,
Richard Weeks was fined £1,000 and
ordered to pay £955 costs after pleading
guilty to one offence of causing polluting
matter to enter controlled waters contrary
to section 85(1) of the Water Resources
Act 1991.
