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What a waste! CLA calls for consistency in regulation on biogasThe new approach by the Environment Agency (EA), which recognises that farm manures are not waste when used in anaerobic digestion, but valuable fertilisers, is welcome. However, CLA argues that the EA has failed to follow its own logic, and the proposal on manures and clean feedstocks does not go as far as the new EU Waste Framework Directive requires.
CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "There is a sting in the tail of the new EA proposal. We argued that where a farm biogas plant uses only manures and clean feedstocks it is not a waste operation at all, and the EA accepted this, but it has now decided to treat biogas - the inevitable product of anaerobic digestion - as a waste when clearly it is absolutely not a 'substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard'.
"The CLA has asked the EA to explain the legal reasoning for treating biogas as waste, and why they still want to involve land managers in the regulatory burden of waste licensing in farm production of energy which does not use waste products."
The CLA President added: "Why, when the new EU Waste Framework Directive clearly places farm based biogas under the Animal By Products Regulations - ABPR - does the EA have a role? There should be no need for registering waste exemptions, size limits or otherwise, provided the plant is approved under planning and building regulations, and by Animal Health under the ABPR."
The CLA believes the full intent of the new EU Waste Framework Directive is to avoid farm based biogas plants being subject to double layers of regulation under both Waste and ABPR.
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