Industry faces hefty bill for disposing of plastic

Crackdown on drum incinerators coming

A huge waste-disposal bill is on the cards for Scottish farmers following the news the use of drum incinerators to dispose of farm plastics is to be outlawed.

The move will come as a shock to the thousands of Scottish producers who hold a registered exemption from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) which allows them to legally burn their plastic waste in this manner.

But following the revelation the practice has been illegal across Europe since the EU changed regulations in 2013, the Scottish Government has asked Sepa to revoke these exemptions and ensure that producers either recycle their waste or pay to have it disposed of through a licensed commercial operator.

While it has long been the case that farmers have not been allowed to burn big piles of plastic in open bonfires, there has been a longstanding arrangement that simple drum incinerators which allow a fierce burn without the production of black smoke can be used as a means of disposal – and assurance schemes have long checked that exemption licences have been granted for these.

But with estimates indicating the industry disposes of more than 50,000 tonnes of plastic waste – including silage wrap, net wrap, fertiliser bags, chemical containers and many other items – on farm each year, the move is likely to cost the industry millions of pounds.

NFU Scotland deputy director of policy, Andrew Bauer, said permission to incinerate plastic waste had been abolished elsewhere in the UK and EU several years ago – but while the union accepted Scottish rules would need to change, his organisation had repeatedly stressed the serious practical and financial implications this would create for the industry.

Bauer said following intense lobbying, the Scottish Government and Sepa had accepted farmers required time to make arrangements for their farm plastics to be either collected for recycling or disposed to a licensed facility – and the union had been told the ban would not come into place until January 1 2019.

However he added this date had not yet been officially confirmed.

“We have been resolute in arguing that there must be a well-planned and well-communicated transition over a sensible timescale,” Mr Bauer said.

“We have received assurances that Sepa will regulate this issue in a pragmatic and proportionate manner.”

He added that farmers should start thinking about how they would deal with plastic waste, and once more details were available, to put in place alternative arrangements ahead of the deadline.

A spokesman for Sepa said the organisation was drawing up an information leaflet specifically for land managers – and that it would write to the 5,000 existing registered exemptions, advising them of a change in the law and removing their exemptions from the Public Register.

“To clarify – the existing registered exemptions can currently burn plastics but Sepa will be writing to them to say we are removing their exemption and to advise them they will no longer be able to burn plastic,” said the spokesman.

Andrew Bauer advised farmers to start preparing for the move.