The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 came into force on the 6^th April 2008. The regulations replace and combine the Waste Management Licensing (WML) and the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) regulations. The aims are to protect the environment, efficiently deliver permitting and compliance, and encourage best practice. If you previously held a PPC permit or WML it automatically became an Environmental Permit (EP) on the 6^th April without the need for reapplication or reissue.

Some waste operations covered by other legislation are excluded from requiring an EP. If so, you must register with the Environment Agency as ‘exempt’. However, the exemptions list has been altered from the previous WML so that some operations are no longer exempt. For example, scrap metal furnaces and burning waste as a fuel now require an EP.

You require an EP if you operate a schedule 1 activity, a waste operation or a mobile plant. If this applies, you will need to apply for an EP from the Environment Agency. Schedule 1 activities include:

1. Energy
   (Combustion, gasification, liquefaction, refining).
   
2. Metal production and processing
   (Ferrous, non-ferrous, surface treating metals, plastic materials).
   
3. Minerals industry
   (Cement, lime, asbestos, glass, glass fibre, mineral fibres, ceramics, other mineral activities).
   
4. Chemical industry
   (Organic and inorganic chemicals, chemical fertiliser production, biocides, pharmaceuticals, explosives, storage of chemicals in bulk).
   
5. Waste management
   (Incineration, landfill, or other disposal methods, recovery of waste, production of fuel from waste).
   
6. Other activities
   (Paper, pulp, board manufacturing, carbon activities, tar and bitumen, coating, printing, textile treatment, dyestuffs, printing ink, timber activities, rubber activities, treatment of animal or vegetable matter, food industry, intensive farming).