By Tony Gardner
IT weighs more than three stones, runs to thousands of pages and is supposed to protect people from pollution at one of Europe's biggest landfill sites.
But – according to environmental protesters – it is worthless.
The Environment Agency has spent more than 12 months drafting the Pollution Prevention and Control permit, aimed at tightening regulations over waste tipping at the Welbeck landfill site near Wakefield.
But just a day after coming into effect, members of Residents Against Toxic Scheme (Rats) claim the hefty tome has failed at the first hurdle.
The document, which came into force on November 30, states that all waste should be inspected before being dumped. But Rats members say they have witnessed 40-tonne wagons constantly entering the site to tip without any checks on their loads.
Rats president Paul Dainton said: "This permit appears to be absolutely worthless. A wagon pulls up to the weighbridge every couple of minutes and the inspectors cannot cope so stuff is just being dumped without being checked.
"What was the point in going to all the effort and expense of drafting this document when it fails at the first hurdle? It's a joke. In the past we have had all sort of things dumped at Welbeck – including a lorry load of sheep heads – . things that should be buried straight in the ground.
"It is vital that all containers are checked or there is just no point bothering with these regulations."
Section 2.1.3.1 of the permit demands that landfill site operators "visually inspect" waste "at the entrance to the landfill and at the point of the deposit".
Rats is considering legal action against site owners Waste Recycling Group (WRG), after the Environment Agency said it would not take enforcement action.
The system of Pollution Prevention and Control is replacing Integrated Pollution Control established by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and implements a European directive.
An Environment Agency spokesman said: "In the case of domestic refuse arriving at landfills from council waste collection points it is impractical to check the detailed contents of every load.
"PPC permits are new documents, and we are currently reviewing the precise wording of this condition.
"Any waste that is suspected of being hazardous should clearly be checked, and we enforce this rigorously."
A spokesman for WRG said: "Operational staff at Welbeck are fully trained in identifying non-conforming waste types, and anything that is tipped from a sealed vehicle and is found not to conform is isolated and segregated and the Environment Agency is informed.
"If the waste is not suitable for disposal it is loaded back on to a lorry and sent for appropriate disposal elsewhere. Some of the standard conditions in the new permits are acknowledged by the Environment Agency to need modification."
tony.gardner@ypn.co.uk