Environmental permits and licences - an overview

Introduction

Business activities that may cause pollution or that pose another risk to the environment are regulated. One form of regulation is the issuing of written authorisations such as licences, permits and consents.

To comply with the law, you must ensure that you have appropriate authorisation for the activities that your business carries out.

This guide describes the new environmental permitting regime. It also provides a summary of the other main licensing arrangements including consents to discharge into watercourses and foul sewers and registration of hazardous waste producers and waste carriers and brokers.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Types of environmental licences and permits
• Environmental permitting: who is affected
• Environmental permitting: complying with the regime
• Discharge consents and groundwater authorisations
• Trade effluent consents and agreements
• Water abstraction and impounding licences
• Waste carrier and broker registration
• Hazardous waste registration
• Radioactive substance registration

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