About this project
This page provides information on the Waste Protocols Project and the Consultation process. Please click one of the links in the list below to find out more.
Overview of the consultation process
The Waste Protocols Project
Overview Waste Protocols ProjectBack to top of page
Uncertainty over the point at which ‘waste’ is fully recovered and ceases to be waste has meant that some materials have continued to be controlled under the EU Waste Framework Directive and, in some cases, disposed of to landfill. To provide more certainty, to stop materials being landfilled unnecessarily and to increase the use of waste as a resource, the Waste Protocols Project has been set up.
The Waste Protocols Project is a Business Resource Efficiency project funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It is a joint Environment Agency and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) initiative in collaboration with industry, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Welsh Assembly Government.
The project aims to achieve one of the following outcomes:
- to produce a Quality Protocol defining the point at which waste may become a non-waste product or material that can be either reused by business or industry, or supplied into other markets, enabling recovered products to be used without the need for waste regulation controls;
- to produce a statement that confirms to the business community what legal obligations they must comply with to use the treated waste material.
The project is so successful it was 2009 winner in the "better regulation" category of the UK’s premier cross-industry accolades, the National Business Awards.
What is a Quality Protocol?Back to top of page
A Quality Protocol gives guidance on how to recover waste, remove it from the regulatory regime and cut through red tape.
We estimate that protocols for the first 12 materials alone will create around £1 billion in business savings and increased sales of waste-derived products by the year 2020 – the latter through strengthening existing markets and stimulating new ones. By following the quality protocol producers can create sustainable resources in which end users can have total confidence.
Quality protocols for these first 12 materials should over the same time period divert around 17 million tonnes of waste from landfill, preserve 14 million tonnes of raw materials and avert at least 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2).
More information about the Waste Protocols Project can be found on the Environment Agency’s website (opens in a new window).
How the consultation works
Overview of the consultation processBack to top of page
- This website hosts consultations on Quality Protocols for several materials.
- For each consultation, there is a consultation phase (in which participants submit their views on a series of questions), followed by a review phase (where the responses are displayed back, along with a summary report)
RegistrationBack to top of page
- When you register, you can select the materials you are interested in by ticking the relevant consultation name.
- You only need to register once for all the Quality Protocol consultations. If you wish you can add consultations on additional materials at any time by logging in and going to the ‘Profile’ section. This section also allows you to de-register for a consultation and to update your contact details.
Taking partBack to top of page
- After registering or logging in to the consultation, you will come to a page listing all consultations for which you have registered. Select the consultation you wish to work on by clicking on the relevant consultation name in the list.
- On the consultation pages you will find sections of the draft Quality Protocol followed by one or more questions at the bottom of the page.
- Each question is followed by a text limited response box. The box will allow you to submit up to 2,000 characters (including blank spaces).
- If you have a modem connection or experience interruptions of your Internet connection, we suggest that you prepare your responses in a Word document (which you save on your computer), and then copy and paste the response into the response box. This will make sure that you do not lose any part of your response due to connection problems.
Updating/amending your submissionBack to top of page
- You can return to the site using your user name and password as many times as you wish during the consultation phase and edit or add to your submission.
How long does it take to take part in the consultation?Back to top of page
The time spent on responding to the consultation question will vary from participant to participant. When you are in the consultation section, the vertical navigation menu on the left hand side allows you to go straight to any part of the consultation which is of primary interest to you. You can either work your way through all consultation questions or select one or more questions that you find most relevant for yourself.
A green bar in the vertical navigation menu appears next to those sections to which you have responded.