Biofuels and NetRegs (& Business Gateway) Alan Parnell

 Overview of the legislation that may apply  Where to find guidance now  Where to find guidance in the future

There may be obligations under legislation such as:  PPC  Waste management licensing  COMAH  Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR)  Waste Incineration Directive (WID)  Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR) And almost certainly under:  Duty of care  Special Waste Regulations  Oil Storage Regulations Information on all of these topics is available on NetRegs

Requirements  If under PPC or WML then you need an environmental license before you can start operating  If WMX then you need to register an exemption with SEPA  If under CAR then depending on the scale of the activity you will need a licence, registration or follow a general binding rule  If COMAH you need to notify HSE & SEPA and then depending on scale prepare & submit a safety report for assessment before you can start  If WID then you need a PPC permit (as above)  If ABPR you will need permission from Animal Health as well as a licence from SEPA

Biodiesel: a case study  Making biodiesel from waste vegetable oils.  Uses physical and chemical processing (trans-esterfication)  Prescribed as an activity for control under PPC Part A as a chemical process.  There is no lower throughput threshold level

Biodiesel:a case study (2)  May not be a Chemical PPC activity if not commercial or at industrial scale.  SEPA undertook a review and with Scottish Government concluded that if capacity is less than 200 tonnes biodiesel production per year then would not be considered to be subject to PPC Part A  A new waste management exemption was issued to allow <200 tonnes per year biodiesel production without need of a licence (still require to comply with certain conditions and other legislation

SEPA Guidance for Small Scale Biodiesel Manufacture

Developments:  Gasification – producing kerosene for aircraft fuel usually from mixed wastes. Gasification and producing hydrocarbons both PPC part A activities  Anaerobic Digestion –producing syngas for gas engines or CHP. Traditional AD plants – WML or WMX. Animal by-products > 10 tonnes per day – PPC  Biomass – some large plants in operation – Stevenscroft and UPM Kynmee Irvine. PPC part A and WID controls, but depends on scale.

Bio fuel – Is it still a waste?  Treating or processing a waste material does not mean that the ”product” will automatically be considered to be fully recovered and not a waste  Several tests have to be applied  Guidance on ‘Is it waste?’ on SEPA’s website  If product still considered to be a waste then burning as a fuel will require PPC Part A permit with WID controls Example  Biodiesel made from vegetable oils and tallow by Argent Energy – not a waste (other outputs might be still a waste e.g. residues). Biodiesel produced can be blended with fossil diesel at the refinery with no further environmental licence controls required

Advice  Complex area  Speak to local SEPA office…  NETREGS: netregs.gov.uk…  SEPA website – position statements; contacts for offices etc….

NetRegs  UK wide project supported by EA, NIEA and SEPA  Online environmental guidance  Main audience – SMEs with no direct contact with the regulators  Written in clear, plain English  Describes “what you must do”  Includes good practice - concerned with business benefits such as resource efficiency  Up to date, free to use

Main types of guidance on NetRegs  Guidance by business type For example “Recycling and reprocessing businesses”  Guidance by environmental topic For example Biofuels for transport, Oil storage, COMAH  Environmental legislation Current legislation lists and future legislation such as consultations and EU directives

Guidance on NetRegs/Business Gateway  Links will be provided from NetRegs as content is ‘switched off’  Legislation pages with current legislation lists – grouped and with short summaries still on NetRegs  Business topics (sector guides) moving to Business Gateway between now and September  New development – i-green project – new technology to deliver guidance through different media

i-green summary  2 national surveys of business awareness (benchmarking and evaluation)  1 piece of detailed national geo-demographic market research  multiple targeted marketing campaigns, both National and Regional  1 pilot of a customer intelligence system  5 key product developments: 1.- simple EMS legislation list generator (site specific) 2.- use images and video to deliver advice and guidance rather than text 3.- personalisation of advice and guidance to customer needs 4.- on site checklists delivered to mobile phone 5.- expand the current pilot online learning tools – new topics and sectors