- Latest available (Revised)
- Original (As enacted)
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003, Cross Heading: Interpretation of Chapter 1.
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
(1)In this Chapter “biodegradable waste” means any waste that is capable of undergoing anaerobic or aerobic decomposition, such as—
food and garden waste, and
paper and paperboard.
[F2(2)In this Chapter—
(a)“biodegradable municipal waste” means waste that is both biodegradable waste and municipal waste; and
(b)“biodegradable local authority collected municipal waste” means waste that is both biodegradable waste and local authority collected municipal waste.]
[F3(3)In this section “municipal waste” means—
(a)mixed waste and separately collected waste from households, including paper and cardboard, glass, metals, plastics, bio-waste, wood, textiles, packaging, waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste batteries and accumulators, and bulky waste, including mattresses and furniture; and
(b)mixed waste and separately collected waste from other sources, where such waste is similar in nature and composition to waste from households.
(3A)But municipal waste does not include waste from production, agriculture, forestry, fishing, septic tanks and sewage network and treatment, including sewage sludge, end-of-life vehicles or waste generated by construction and demolition activities.]
[F4(4)In subsection (2) “local authority collected municipal waste” means any municipal waste which is collected under arrangements made by a waste collection authority or a waste disposal authority.
(5)In subsection (4) “waste collection authority”—
(a)in relation to England and Wales and Scotland, has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;
(b)in relation to Northern Ireland, means a district council.]
Textual Amendments
F1S. 21 heading substituted (21.11.2011) by The Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003 (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2499), regs. 1(2), 6(1)
F2S. 21(2) substituted (21.11.2011) by The Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003 (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2499), regs. 1(2), 6(2)(a)
F3S. 21(3)(3A) substituted for s. 21(3) (1.10.2020) by The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/904), regs. 1(1), 5(2)
F4S. 21(4)(5) inserted (21.11.2011) by The Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003 (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2499), regs. 1(2), 6(2)(c)
(1)In this Chapter “landfill” means a site for the deposit of waste onto or into land where the site is—
(a)a waste disposal site, or
(b)used for the storage of waste.
(2)In determining whether a site is a landfill for the purposes of this Chapter, the following activities at the site are to be ignored—
(a)the temporary storage of waste if the site is used for such storage for less than one year;
(b)the unloading of waste in order to permit the waste to be prepared for further transport for recovery, treatment or disposal elsewhere;
(c)the storage of waste, prior to recovery or treatment, for a period of less than three years as a general rule;
(d)the storage of waste, prior to disposal, for a period of less than one year.
(3)The fact that a site for the deposit of waste is at the place of production of the waste does not prevent the site from being a landfill for the purposes of this Chapter.
(4)In subsection (2) “treatment” means the physical, thermal, chemical or biological processes, including sorting, that change the characteristics of waste in order to—
(a)reduce its volume,
(b)reduce its hazardous nature,
(c)facilitate its handling, or
(d)enhance its recoverability.
[F5(1)In this Chapter—
“scheme year” means—
for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, a year beginning with 1st April in any of 2005 to 2019; and
for Wales—
the period of six months beginning with 1st October 2004, or
a year beginning with 1st April in any of 2005 to 2019;
“target year” means a scheme year ending with 31st March in 2010, 2013 or 2020.]
(2)The Secretary of State may by regulations amend subsection (1) for the purpose of—
(a)providing for a different day to be the first day of a scheme year;
(b)adding or omitting one or more scheme years;
(c)providing for a scheme year to be a period shorter or longer than a year;
(d)changing the target years or any of them;
(e)adding or omitting one or more target years.
[F6(3)The power under subsection (2) is exercisable only with the agreement of the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.]
Textual Amendments
F5S. 23(1) substituted (22.7.2004) by Landfill (Scheme Year and Maximum Landfill Amount) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1936), regs. 1, 2(2)
F6S. 23(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Waste (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/620), regs. 1(2)(b), 6(3) (with reg. 7); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
(1)For the purposes of this Chapter, the “allocating authority”—
F7(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(b)for Scotland is the Scottish Ministers,
(c)for Wales is the National Assembly for Wales, and
(d)for Northern Ireland is the Department of the Environment.
(2)In this Chapter, any reference to an allocating authority’s “area” is to the area for which it is the allocating authority for the purposes of this Chapter.
(3)In this Chapter “landfill allowances” means allowances allocated under section 4(1).
(4)References in this Chapter to the monitoring authority for an area are to the monitoring authority designated for the area by regulations under section 10(1).
(5)[F8In this Chapter] “waste disposal authority”—
(a)in relation to England, Wales and Scotland has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (c. 43);
(b)in relation to Northern Ireland means a district council.
F9(6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F10(7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Textual Amendments
F7S. 24(1)(a) omitted (31.3.2013) by virtue of The Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003 (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/141), regs. 1(1)(b), 3(4) (with reg. 8)
F8Words in s. 24(5) substituted (26.5.2015) by Deregulation Act 2015 (c. 20), s. 115(7), Sch. 13 para. 6(33)(a); S.I. 2015/994, art. 6(g)
F9S. 24(6) omitted (26.5.2015) by virtue of Deregulation Act 2015 (c. 20), s. 115(7), Sch. 13 para. 6(33)(b); S.I. 2015/994, art. 6(g)
F10S. 24(7) omitted (26.5.2015) by virtue of Deregulation Act 2015 (c. 20), s. 115(7), Sch. 13 para. 6(33)(b); S.I. 2015/994, art. 6(g)
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: