The Environment Agency has published 'How to Find Out if Waste Oil and Wastes That Contain Oil are Hazardous.'

The guidance states that waste oil is any waste that is in Chapter 13 Oil Wastes and Wastes of Liquid Fuels in the List of Wastes. Furthermore, it includes the following specific wastes: disperse oil; rosin oil; and oil and concentrates from separation. This includes all fuels - biodiesel is included if conventional or low-sulphur diesel has been mixed into it.

Following the European Commission conclusion that all waste oils except edible oil are hazardous, the Guidance states that all waste oils are hazardous waste, regardless of what sort of oil they are, what they are derived from or what they are made of. The Guidance also states that it is important to determine what hazardous properties the oil possesses.

The Guidance, therefore, provides a flowchart for determining the classification of wastes containing oil, which includes the following steps:

• Knowledge of the contamination - find out how the waste became contaminated.
• Find the waste on the List of Wastes in Chapter 13 Oil Wastes and Wastes of Liquid Fuels. There are 3 types of entry on the List: absolute hazardous entries, mirror entries and non-hazardous entries. Therefore, the Guidance states that this step will determine whether the waste is hazardous or not.
• Determine the oil concentration - Appendix B of the Guidance provides advice on analysing the waste to determine the oil concentration.
• Determine hazardous properties and compare thresholds with oil concentration.
• Decision - at this stage it can be determined whether the oil causes the waste to be hazardous or not.
• Other dangerous substances - determine if the waste contains other dangerous substances.

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The Environment Agency has announced the five new waste streams that will make up the second year of the Waste Protocols Project. The Environment Agency will now develop guidance on how to recover the waste for reuse so that it is no longer defined as waste.

The five waste streams that have been selected to go forward as part of the Waste Protocol Project are:

• Steel slag from steel manufacture, which can be reused in construction and building materials and as an agricultural fertiliser,
• Gypsum from waste plasterboard which can be used to make new plasterboard and in cement products,
• Incinerator bottom ash which is made up from glass, porcelain, brick, gravel, sand, slag and ash from household waste that is burnt in incinerators, and can be used as aggregate in construction materials.
• Paper mill ash which is produced when sludge from paper making is burnt for energy recovery and the ash can be used as an aggregate.
• Uncontaminated topsoil from greenfields and development sites can be reused on a wide range of horticultural and leisure sites such as parks, golf courses and football pitches.

In addition, the Project will also work on the preparation of a Protocol for anaerobic digestate, which is produced from a wide range of source segregated organic substances such as food waste. There were 3 unsuccessful waste streams: cathode ray tube glass; paper mill sludge; and whole tyres.

For more information email EIC danny.stevens@eic-uk.co.uk

The key issues that Defra are consulting on are:

• The proposed definition of a CRC organisation.
• Coverage of specific activities and emissions.
• Design of the auction and CRC league table.
• Monitoring, reporting, audit and penalties.

Coverage The CRC will target emissions from energy use in organisations whose mandatory half hourly-metered electricity consumption is greater than 6000 MWh per year. the Government estimates that between 4,000 - 5,000 organisations will be covered by the CRC.

The total emissions coverage at this level is estimated at 14 MtC, and as a result of doubling the threshold the forecast emissions savings from the scheme will fall by 0.1 MtC to 1.1 MtC per year by 2020.

The Government is considering allowing sites without mandatory half hourly meters to be included in the CRC.

The deadline for responses is 9 October 2007.

The key points of the consultation are that DfT will:

• Aim to reward biofuels under the RTFO in accordance with the carbon savings that they offer from April 2010, provided that this is compatible with World Trade Organisation rules and EU Technical Standards requirements, and is consistent with the policy framework being developed by the European Commission as part of the review of the Biofuels Directive, and subject to consultation on its environmental and economic impacts
• Aim to reward biofuels under the RTFO only if the feedstocks from which they are produced meet appropriate sustainability standards from April 2011, subject to the same provisos and consultation as above and subject to the development of such standards for the relevant feedstocks.
• Ask the RTFO Administrator to report to the Secretary of State every three months on the effectiveness of the RTFO's environmental reporting mechanisms, and on the carbon and sustainability effects of the RTFO. The Government will keep the RTFO under review in the light of these reports.
• Set stretching indicative targets for the level of carbon and sustainability performance expected from all transport fuel suppliers claiming certificates for biofuels in the early years of the RTFO.