New publications this month:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)
Complying with the biodiversity duty
This document has been updated to make it more usable. A new section aims to help public authorities consider actions they can take to meet the duty. Further information on relevant policies is also provided.
DEFRA AND ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection: code of practice
This guidance has been updated to reflect revised requirements on solar photovoltaic panels and vapes or electronic cigarettes. Additional information is also provided on operator responsibilities and how small mixed WEEE and batteries should be stored.
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Environment Agency fees and charges
Links are now provided to the new online payment service on GOV.UK (GOV.UK Pay) as a means to pay Environment Agency charges.
MCERTS
Requirements under the following MCERTS documents have been updated:
Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs)
The following RPSs were updated during September 2025:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO
UK ETS technical guidance: Monitoring and Reporting Regulation (MRR) 2018
A new element to this guidance (VMRVP01: Waste installations in the voluntary MRV period) provides guidance to the operators of waste installations on how they can take part in the voluntary monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) period under the UK ETS.
Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance (CHPQA) Programme
A link to the new CHPQA registration and assessment portal has been added.
ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH AGENCY AND DEFRA
Handling and disposing of international catering waste
Updates to this guidance include further information on separating aircraft waste and how international catering waste must be separated.
DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT AND MET OFFICE
Transport Hazard Summary Guidance
A series of new documents provide information on river flooding and its impact on safety and transport infrastructure:
FORESTRY COMMISSION
Import timber, wood products or bark
Further guidance is provided on action to be taken if imports fail inspection.
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
Scotland's Heat Network Fund: application guidance
Guidance is provided on who is eligible for the heat network fund and how to apply.
Scottish blue carbon action plan
This plan communicates how blue carbon habitats are considered in marine policies. Actions for improvement are also set out.
Companies fined for illegal stockpiles of waste
Five organisations have been fined £70,666 for stockpiling brick, concrete and other material at two farms between 2016 and 2018 without an environmental permit authorising this activity.
After being notified of thousands of lorry movements in the village of Iken, the Environment Agency established more than 121,000 tonnes had been dumped at the two locations, Hill Farm and The Anchorage.
Investigators found both the vast quantity of waste and its composition meant the two locations it had been taken to were illegal. The waste contained wood, plastic, concrete and brick that was wrongly described as soil.
It was evident from interviews and statements with senior staff that assumptions were made about what permissions were obtained by others in the chain, from housing developments to the farms where the waste was left.
More than half the illegal waste, around 62,000 tonnes, was supplied by Howard Construction. Barconn and Landex provided around a third again.
East Suffolk Water Management Board sought to legitimise the waste at Iken by registering two waste exemptions. However, the sheer volume of what was taken there by Nicholls Ltd meant the exemptions were quickly breached.
Waste Carrier
The haulage and waste management firm Nicholls Ltd took the waste to Iken on behalf of East Suffolk Water Management Board, but without a licence from the Environment Agency.
Waste Producers
Nicholls Ltd was given the waste by three firms, who admitted they failed to check where it was going. A judge called the actions of four companies ”negligent.”
East Suffolk Water Management Board
A Judge said East Suffolk Water Management Board had “turned a blind eye” to what was happening. The board had asked for the waste to be held at the farms but failed to obtain the appropriate environmental permit from the Environment Agency. The board did nothing to stop the waste from being brought in.
Breaches
Nicholls Ltd pleaded guilty to leaving the waste at the same locations without a permit, contrary to Sections 33(1)(a) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
East Suffolk Water Management Board pleaded guilty to operating a waste management facility without an environmental permit, in breach of Regulation 12(1)(a) and Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 and Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.
Howard Construction (Anglia) Ltd; Barconn Ltd; and Landex Ltd were all charged with failing to comply with the duty of care on the transfer of waste, under Section 34(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Penalties
Nicholls Ltd was fined £26,666 with costs of £62,000 and a victim surcharge of £170. In March 2025, Nicholls Ltd was subject to a proceeds of crime order for £425,000, requiring this amount earned through illegal work to repaid.
East Suffolk Water Management Board was fined £4,000 with costs of £15,500 and a victim surcharge of £170.
Howard Construction (Anglia) Ltd was fined £18,000 with costs of £7,750 and a victim surcharge of £170.
Barconn Ltd, of Norwich was fined £14,000 with costs of £7,500 and a victim surcharge of £170.
Landex Limited was fined £8,000 with costs of £7,500 and a victim surcharge of £170.
Company and directors fined for illegal waste operations
Convictions have been secured against Cats and Dust Limited and two men for operating waste sites without the required environmental permits. They were also charged with falsifying documents connected to hazardous waste disposal.
The two men were previously directors of RF Recycling Ltd, a company operating a regulated facility without a permit. The facility was operated without an environmental permit between January and June 2020.
Following a visit from the Environment Agency in October 2021, RF Recycling Ltd ceased trading. However, Cats and Dust Ltd commenced trading immediately afterwards, operating unlawfully from a separate unit within the same trading estate until January 2022.
Cats and Dust Ltd has a sole director. The other man, a former director of RF Recycling Ltd, resigned shortly before Cats and Dust Ltd began trading.
Handling hazardous materials without the correct permits is an offence, which can put communities and the environment at risk, while also undercutting legitimate businesses. By continuing operations despite warnings and by falsifying paperwork, the defendants demonstrated a disregard for the law.
Cats and Dust Limited operated a regulated waste facility without the required environmental permit between October 2021 and January 2022. The company also submitted multiple falsified hazardous waste consignment notes, misrepresenting producers or consignees.
During his time as a director of RF Recycling and Cats and Dust Limited, the first man consented to or neglected multiple offences, including operating waste facilities without permits and falsifying consignment notes. These offences covered the period between January 2020 and January 2022, involving hundreds of false entries in waste documentation.
The former director RF Recycling Ltd was responsible for operating an unpermitted waste facility and submitting falsified consignment notes between January 2020 and October 2021.
Cats and Dust Ltd was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs.
The former director of RF Recycling Ltd and sole director of Cats and Dust Ltd received a 12-month community order requiring 200 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £5,360 in compensation to the Environment Agency, along with £6,000 in costs.
The other former director of RF Recycling Ltd was given a 12-month community order requiring 150 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £6,000 in costs.
Skip hire boss ordered to pay back earnings from waste crime
A Merseyside skip hire boss has been ordered to pay back a six-figure sum after she was found to have profited from illegal waste crime.
The Environment Agency secured the confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 at a hearing in September 2025. The boss had previously been jailed for operating MWM Recycling Ltd illegally.
The confiscation hearing followed the conviction of the woman for illegal waste activity in March 2022. The earlier conviction jailed the woman for a year and banned her from being a company director for five years.
In the original case, the woman was in control of MWM Recycling Ltd. Following an extensive investigation by the Environment Agency, the company had its environmental permit revoked after a series of breaches and was issued with an enforcement notice to clear the land of waste. Despite this, waste continued to be stored and illegally burned.
The woman’s son, who ran the day-to-day site operations, was also previously jailed for eight months. A confiscation order of £40,000 was secured against the son in December 2024, which has since been paid.
Confiscation order
The woman was ordered to pay back £250,000 in the confiscation order. The woman was given three months to pay the order, or she faces up to three years in jail. She was also ordered to pay £25,000 in costs.
