Waste Protocols Project |
The Waste Protocols Project is a joint Environment Agency and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) initiative in collaboration with industry, funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as a business resource efficiency activity.
The project seeks to achieve the following outcomes:
- to produce a Quality Protocol identifying the point at which waste, having been the subject of a complete recovery operation, may become a non-waste product or material that can be either reused by business or industry, or supplied into other markets, enabling such fully recovered products to be used without the need for waste management controls; and
- to produce a statement that confirms to the business community what legal obligations they must comply with to use the treated waste material.
What is a Quality Protocol?
A Quality Protocol gives guidance on how to recover waste, remove it from the regulatory regime, and cut through red tape.
Materials under consideration
Year One | Year Two |
Compost | Paper sludge ash (PSA) |
Outcomes so far
- Anaerobic digestion (AD): closed 27th June 2008
- Tyre-derived rubber materials: closed 31 March 2008
- Non-packaging plastics: closed 3 March 2008
- Flat glass: closed 25 January 2008
- Waste vegetable oil (WVO): closed 14 January 2008
a) The Quality Protocol for the production and use of quality compost from source-segregated biodegradable waste was launched in May 2006. This is applicable in England and Wales. For more information, please visit Quality Protocol.
b) In August 2007, the Environment Agency reviewed the legal classification of steel making by-product 'Blast Furnace Slag' from waste to by-product, with clarification from the EU, and through consultation with industry.
c) The Environment Agency confirmed in October 2007 that virgin timber was to be de-regulated, clean non-virgin timber remained regulated whilst treated timber remains a waste.
d) Public consultations have been completed for:
These materials are currently undergoing a post consultation review phase before a draft QP is notified before the European Commission's Technical Standards committee.
e) A technical report and regulatory position statement for contaminated soils have been published on the Environment Agency website.
f) Online consultations are currently live for the draft quality protocols for pulverised fuel ash (PFA), paper sludge ash (PSA) and gypsum from waste plasterboard. Please go to Dialogue by Design to take part in these consultations.
g) Consultations for the remaining materials will commence soon, and will be also available on the Dialogue by Design website.
Other information
Please go to the Environment Agency for more information on the Waste Protocols Project.
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