Standard permits are for sites covered by the environmental permitting regime, which came into force in April (ENDS Report 397, p 37 
). This merged the waste management licensing and pollution prevention and control regimes, with the aim of improving efficiency.
Standard permits cover most low and medium risk waste sites - higher risk sites have to apply for bespoke permits. They only contain one condition, which refers to a simple set of rules on what waste a site can accept, how it should operate and handle emissions to air and water.
The Agency consulted on a first set of rules last year, including ones for civic amenity sites, most waste transfer stations and composting sites (ENDS Report 393, p 42 ). The new consultation covers:
- Pet cemeteries
- Low-impact Part A installations, including those producing biodiesel
- Biogas engines at sewage treatment works up to 3MW in size
- Waste transfer stations for inert and excavation waste, processing up to 250,000 tonnes a year of material
- Sites storing scrap metal for recovery, up to 1 million tonnes a year
- The disposal of inert wastes at mines and quarries
The Agency’s consultation runs until 14 November.