Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to monitor compliance with regulations at exposed wood-recycling plants.

Businesses managing waste wood, including wood recycling plants, must have an environmental permit issued by the Environment Agency (EA). Smaller and lower risk wood recyclers are exempt from a permit, but must register a T6 waste exemption with the EA.

The EA monitors compliance at the 47 permitted facilities that recycle or handle large quantities of waste wood. All of these sites submit data and information to the EA annually, which is used to help assess their performance. In 2017 the EA made 62 inspections and 10 in-depth audits of these facilities, based on site-specific risk and performance.

There are currently 24,419 registered T6 waste exemptions. Due to their low risk status these sites are not routinely monitored. The EA carried out 127 inspections of these facilities in 2017, after their performance raised concerns.

A current government consultation is seeking views on changes to the T6 waste exemption as there is evidence that it can be abused.