The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources provided clarifications on certain provisions of the Waste Management Law for entrepreneurs.
The Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals applied to the department for clarification of the legislative inconsistency regarding scrap, UAVtormet reports in Telegram.
The Ministry of Natural Resources emphasized that certain obligations of business entities in the field of waste management include the collection, purchase, storage, transportation, recovery or disposal of waste, regardless of the type of waste.
The letter drew attention to the fact that the management of waste containing metals is carried out in accordance with the norms of the Law "On Scrap Metal". And other requirements for such waste, in particular, their classification, accounting and reporting, licensing and permitting systems, etc., are regulated by the Waste Law. In addition, waste treatment facilities are designed, constructed and operated in accordance with the requirements of this law, the legislation in the field of urban planning and the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment. The rules for the technical operation of such facilities are approved by the central executive authorities.
"Currently, the ministry is completing the development of a draft legal act on these issues," the letter says.
The Ministry of Natural Resources emphasized that keeping records of waste management operations and reporting is the responsibility of business entities in the field of waste management. Entrepreneurs must independently determine the operation code for the recovery of waste specified in Appendix 2 to the Waste Law.
The report also clarified the legal terminology:
- waste management operations – collection, transportation, recovery and disposal of waste;
- waste collection – an operation consisting in the withdrawal, purchase, accumulation and storage of waste by business entities in the field of waste management, including separate collection, for the purpose of further transportation of waste to waste treatment facilities;
- waste treatment – an operation for the recovery or disposal of waste, including the preparation of waste for such operations.
“Thus, the waste collection operation does not apply to waste recovery operations, the list of which is defined in Annex 2 to the Law. With regard to the preparation for waste recovery, preliminary waste recovery operations are included in position K12 of Appendix 2 to the Law. The application of the specified position K12 is carried out on the condition that another position of this Appendix is not applicable, ”the Ministry of Natural Resources explained.
The message added that the issuance of permits or refusal to issue permits for waste treatment operations is attributed to the powers of the central executive authority. The Ministry of Natural Resources has developed a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On Amendments to the Regulations on the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine", which is intended to empower the agency with the authority to implement state policy in the field of waste management.
The letter explained that the Waste Law defines the list, requirements and method of submitting documents for obtaining a permit for waste treatment operations, the period for issuing and validity of the permit, as well as other issues related to the permit procedure. In addition, the application forms and other documents are determined by the procedure for issuing permits for waste treatment transactions, which is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Ministry of Natural Resources emphasized that a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On approval of the procedure for issuing (refusal to issue, annulment) permits for waste treatment operations" has been developed. The document is undergoing internal approval, after which it will be published on the official website of the ministry under the heading "Consultations with the public."
The letter explained that in order to harmonize the waste classification procedure with European requirements, the Ministry of Natural Resources has developed a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On Approval of the Procedure for Waste Classification and the National List of Waste". The document is available on the department's website under the heading "Consultations with the public".
It is noted that the national list of waste in their groups corresponds to the European one and consists of 20 waste groups:
- groups 1-12 And 17 19 cover wastes originating from different industries and/or production processes;
- groups 13-15 cover waste generated as a result of the use of different materials and substances;
- group 16 covers wastes not listed in other groups of the National List of Wastes;
- Group 20 includes household waste (household waste and similar waste from commercial organizations, industrial enterprises, institutions, etc.), including separately collected fractions.
"Thus, wastes containing metals or their alloys, metal products, depending on their origin, are presented in groups 02, 06, 10-12, 15-17, 19, 20 of the National List of Wastes," the letter explained.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, the leadership of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals turned to the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strelts for clarification of legislative discrepancies on scrap.
