Environmental permitting has simplified and combined a number of permitting systems, such as pollution prevention and control permits, waste management licences and water discharge consents.
Environmental permits regulate business activities that could have an impact on the environment or human health.
ECOsoulton help its clients to receive an environmental permit if its business operates a regulated facility that carries out:
- certain listed activities at installations or mobile plants, such as industrial, waste or intensive farming activities
- waste operations, such as treating waste, metals recycling or operating a waste transfer station
- mining waste operations, such as handling or storing extractive waste
- water discharge activities, such as discharging pollutants to surface water (rivers, lakes, streams, etc)
- groundwater activities, such as directly or indirectly discharging pollutants to groundwater
- radioactive substances activities, such as keeping or using radioactive materials, or accumulating or disposing of radioactive waste
ECOsolution to register an exemption from environmental permitting with the Environment Agency or your local authority, for example, if you carry out
- exempt waste operations, which will have specific conditions limiting the waste types and amounts that can be stored, treated, used or disposed of, eg storing and treating no more than 1,000 tonnes of scrap metal at any one time
- exempt water discharge activities, such as discharging 5 cubic metres or less per day of sewage effluent from a small sewage treatment plant into inland freshwaters (rivers, lakes, streams, etc), coastal water, estuary or territorial water
- exempt groundwater activities, such as discharging 2 cubic metres or less per day of sewage effluent from a septic tank or sewage treatment plant into groundwater
You must get an environmental permit, or if you meet the terms of an exemption you may need to register it with the Environment Agency or your local authority before you start operating your regulated facility or exempt activity. You must comply with the conditions of your permit or exemption or you could be fined or even sent to prison.
