Waste Regulation and Enforcement Surveys Framework

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is responsible for regulating waste facilities both in terms of waste operations and installations. NRW also tackles activities where waste is being handled without any regulatory control. This includes sites that operate without the necessary permit or exemption, fly tipping, waste dumping, waste abandonment, and the misdescription of waste.The majority of the waste industry operates responsibly, but a small proportion fails to meet the required standards or deliberately operates outside the law. These exceptions have many impacts: on the environment, on communities, on legitimate waste businesses and on the sector’s reputation. They also pose a greater risk of incidents that consume a large amount of public sector resources.The mishandling and mismanagement of waste also undermines our ambitions in Wales to transition to a circular economy. Our circular economy ambition aims to ensure that resources remain in use for as long as possible, reducing the need for new virgin resourcesThe framework is being created to enable NRW to call on specialist skills, equipment and expertise appropriate to the evidence requirements needed. The work undertaken through the framework will provide robust evidence that can assist NRW in delivering appropriate, proportionate and successful compliance and enforcement action.Work undertaken of behalf of NRW under this framework is likely to be subject to challenge, this may be in Court or through other appeal mechanisms related to regulatory and enforcement decisions.