In addition to the three new temporary regulatory position statements (RPS) discussed in a previous GT Alert, in response to the ongoing disruption caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic the UK’s Environment Agency (EA) has published four new temporary regulatory position statements (RPS).
Like the EA’s other RPS, the four new COVID-19 specific RPS are declarations by the EA (the primary environmental regulator and enforcement authority for England and Wales) that it will not seek to enforce certain aspects of the UK’s environmental permitting regime in specific circumstances related to COVID-19.
The new RPS apply to:
- incineration of specified healthcare wastes at municipal waste incinerators.
- personal protective equipment (PPE) waste from home healthcare workers treating patients with COVID-19.
- storing treated sewage sludge which cannot be moved because of COVID-19 restrictions.
- monitoring emissions from installations, radioactive substances, and waste activities.