The Landfill (Amendment No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

The Regulations amend the Landfill Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (‘the 2003 Regulations’) and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.

These Regulations make further amendments to the regulatory regime governing landfills in Northern Ireland for the purpose of implementing Council Decision 2003/33/EC establishing criteria and procedures for the acceptance of waste at landfills pursuant to Article 16 of and Annex II to Directive 1999/31/EC (‘the Landfill Directive’). They also make provision in respect of the implementation of the Landfill Directive.

Regulation 3 defines a technical term, while regulation 4 amends the exemption concerning the deposit of non-hazardous dredging sludges alongside small waterways so as to reflect the exact wording of that part of Article 3(2) of the Landfill Directive which this provision implements.

The main amendments to the 2003 Regulations re-enact, with amendments, the waste acceptance criteria to be met by granular waste and set new waste acceptance criteria for monolithic waste, both in respect of stable non-reactive waste and non-hazardous waste deposited in the same cell with such waste (regulation 10) and waste acceptable at landfills for hazardous waste (regulation 11). Regulations 12 and 13 make provision for the sampling and testing of those wastes.

The Regulations set the limit value for waste acceptable at landfills for inert waste in respect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (regulations 7 and 8).

The transitional provisions are amended to impose additional conditions in the landfill permits or waste management licences of existing landfills prohibiting the acceptance of certain types of waste at those landfills from a specified date (regulation 15). The additional conditions prohibit the acceptance by such landfills of whole and shredded used tyres and the acceptance of other specified types of waste from 30th October 2007.

Regulation 16 makes minor amendments to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.

Copies of the publications referred to in the provisions substituted in the 2003 Regulations by regulations 12 and 13 of these Regulations may be obtained from any of the outlets operated by the British Standards Institution, or from The Stationery Office (TSO) at 16 Arthur Street, Belfast, BT1 4GD (telephone [phone]).