New Timber Waste Rules Could Bring UK Roofing Industry to a Standstill

NEW TIMBER WASTE rules have the potential to bring the UK roofing industry to a standstill.

From 1 September 2023, old roofing materials made from softwood were re-classified as hazardous waste, and skip companies and their waste receivers are refusing to take it.

New Roof Timber Waste Rules

On 1 September, the Environment Agency withdrew Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) 250. This means that potentially hazardous ‘amber’ waste items from 1950-2007 buildings can no longer be processed as non-hazardous, unless samples are sent for testing to prove its status.

The Wood Recyclers Association (WRA), which is collecting data on the wood tests, has said only ten wood materials are affected. However, seven out of the ten materials are from roofing.

Seven Out of Ten

The ten potentially hazardous wood materials from 1950-2007 buildings are:

1. 1. barge boards
   2. external fascia
   3. soffit boards
   4. roof timber
   5. cladding battens
   6. ‘tiling’ battens
   7. timber frames
   8. external joinery
   9. external doors
   10. timber joists

These materials, if made from softwood, could have been treated with Copper chrome arsenic (CCA) preservative treatments and creosote, which are known carcinogens and ecotoxic.

With seven out of the ten items typically featuring in waste from a roofing refurbishment, the withdrawal of RPS250 will affect most roofing contractors that work in the domestic sector, as well as those that undertake pitched commercial work.

The WRA is advising skip hire and waste disposal companies to refuse to take the materials. It says that because only ten items are affected waste operators do not need to go to the expense of getting a permit to handle the material.

The WRA said, “It has already been identified that these 10 potentially hazardous waste wood items only account for around 4,000 tonnes out of circa 400,000 tonnes of demolition waste wood. It is therefore unnecessary for wood recyclers and their supply chain to commit to the high costs, resource input, long time periods for approval and potential planning implications to change to a hazardous permit for such a small quantity of material.”

Testing

Instead, they say that a sample of the materials must be tested before they can accept the waste for disposal. Roofing companies will need to foot the bill for the testing, on the principal that the waste producer pays.

Not only will the time taken for testing delay re-roofing projects, but there are many unanswered questions surrounding where and how the waste should be stored until it is confirmed as non-hazardous or hazardous. The WRA says it should be “quarantined”.

The WRA lists just three laboratories that carry out waste wood tests, although it says any UKAS accredited lab can, in theory, do the tests.

If the timber samples are found to be hazardous, there are currently just two outlets for its disposal.

Could Create Chaos

Several roofing companies have reported that their normal skip hire companies are refusing to provide skips to roofers. One roofing company told Roofing Today that their skip provider has closed until October while they train staff to identify the waste materials affected.

Chris Hopkins of Green & Heritage Roofing Ltd in Halifax said, “It’s going to have a big impact on the roofing industry this autumn. It could create chaos – I can’t think how I can do a job if I can’t get skips.”

“We’ll have to strip the roof and then wait while samples are sent for testing, leaving the waste on site. On a domestic property there often simply isn’t the space to store waste timbers and it could be a fire risk. Can you imagine leaving loads of old timber lying around in the weeks before bonfire night?”

Backlogs and Panic

With a combination of limited capacity for testing waste roofing timbers and many roofers needing to get samples tested, it is feared that testing backlogs will quickly build up. The temptation will be for unscrupulous traders to burn or fly tip timbers or falsify testing certificates.

In its FAQs on the issue, the WRA comments, “We know that there is only a tiny amount of this wood in the waste stream and that the vast majority of waste wood is non-hazardous including wood from construction sites. We therefore need to keep perspective on this and ensure that we don’t spread panic and create situations where waste management companies are refusing to take any waste wood or encouraging fly tipping or burning of wood.”

Some roofers may not feel they are able to offer roofing services to domestic consumers with properties built between 1950-2007.

Yet, even establishing the age of a building may not be straightforward because many householders don’t know when their properties were built. HM Land Registry charges to find out and if they don’t want to pay it advises homeowners to do historical research.

Unprepared

Despite the WRA saying it has been planning for the re-classification of the affected waste wood as hazardous, it admits waste operators are unprepared. The organisation said, “the WRA has been inundated with queries from those handling demolition waste wood about how to prepare for the change, with many confused about what to do or how it will impact their businesses.”

Speaking of the launch of the new waste wood rules, Vicki Hughes, Technical Lead on the WRA Board, said: “The announcement comes after five years of work by the WRA under its Waste Wood Classification Project, during which it successfully reduced the number of items subject to this change from hundreds, with all the costs associated with them, to just 10, all from pre-2007 buildings.”

Before the rule change, the WRA had been calling for all those handling demolition waste wood to carry out as many tests as possible on the remaining 10 items to help get them removed from the list; this it failed to do.

Yet, it seems the roofing industry was not consulted. Despite seven out of the ten items coming from the roofing industry – the WRA has apparently not spoken to any organisations in the roofing industry. The WRA says it had collaborated with other trade associations to get enough samples since 2020 – but has reportedly failed to collaborate with roofing organisations.

The failure leaves roofers face expensive testing costs.

In the longer term, testing is the only route to getting the items removed from the hazardous list, which will be reviewed by the Environment Agency in one year’s time.

Vicki said: “Testing is vital if we are to remove more of these items from the list and ensure as much material is recycled or recovered as possible.”

She added: “RPS250 only applies in England, but the other three UK environmental regulators have similar positions in place in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

So it seems the roofing industry is stuck with the situation for at least one year.

Chris Hopkins said: “I feel like it’s Covid coming at me again – this issue is going to bring my company to a halt. If skip operators stop providing skips, then roofers can’t do their work. This issue is about to take the industry by storm and it could snowball so that the roofing industry grinds to a halt.”

Roofing projects become more efficient with the comprehensive skip hire Canterbury services offer, ensuring a seamless waste management solution for debris and materials during construction and renovation endeavors in the area.

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