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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency took to communicate to operators that RPS248 would be withdrawn.

A Regulatory Position Statement explains when the Environment Agency will not take enforcement action for not complying with a legal requirement.

In July 2021 RPS 248 was published. The RPS was time limited and written to enable the use of shredded waste carpet whilst industry and regulators did further work on understanding the environmental risks. RPS withdrawal was always a potential outcome from this work.

In advance of RPS248 being withdrawn, the Environment Agency sent a briefing note to industry explaining the reasoning behind the planned withdrawal. The briefing was sent to Carpet Recycling UK (who had a working group on waste carpet in equestrian surfaces) and to companies notifying that they were using the RPS. A notification under the RPS was a critical requirement of the RPS.

Some companies not notifying under RPS248 subsequently contacted the Environment Agency for further information and the briefing note was shared on request. The RPS was subsequently withdrawn in January 2024, as the RPS posed an unacceptable risk to the environment and the future liabilities of end users.

Industry must now meet the legal requirement for an environmental permit for the use of shredded waste carpet in equestrian surfacing.