EBLIX urges farmers to register for exemption from waste regulations

The English Beef and Lamb Executive is urging farmers who wish to continue activities like using tyres on silage clamps to register under the new Agricultural Waste Regulations as soon as possible.

Farmers are now banned from the burial of all wastes and the burning of most. But the regulations do allow a number of agricultural practices considered to be waste disposal to continue without a licence.

Producers must register with the Environment Agency before 15 May 2007. Registering for exemptions is free and the Environment Agency has tried to make it as simple as possible,” said EBLEX scientist Kim Matthews.

“It is, however, concerned that a flood of applications just ahead of next year’s deadline could make it difficult to register all exemptions in time”.

“EBLEX strongly advises beef and sheep producers to complete their applications as soon as possible rather than leaving them to the last minute and risking registration delays beyond the 15 May 2007 deadline.”

Farmers who carry out any of the following activities need to register for an exemption from the requirement to get a waste management licence:

• Using waste paper as animal bedding
  
• using tyres on a silage clamp
  
• chipping logs and branches from felled trees and hedges, and shredding plant material
  
• clearing mud and debris (dredgings) from watercourses such as streams and ditches and depositing it along their banks
  
• using a compactor bin to crush waste; baling waste plastic silage wrap, shredding paper packaging, crushing empty containers and cleaning pesticide containers
  
• burning naturally occurring plant matter, including logs and branches from fallen or chopped down trees
  
• disposal of plant tissue wastes such as diseased or spoiled crops on land at the farm where they are produced eg rotten potatoes.