51.—(1) The provisions of this section shall apply notwithstanding the provisions of any bye-law made under section 21 of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Act, 1990.

(2) F249[(a) subject to paragraph (b), a waste licence under section 39 shall not be required for the recovery of sludge for use in agriculture.]

(b) The Minister may make regulations amending paragraph (a) by adding or deleting to or from that provision any specified class or classes of waste or waste recovery activity.

(c) “Recovery”, for the purpose of this section, includes the injection of waste into land for the purpose of benefiting the carrying on of any agricultural or silvicultural activity or an ecological system.

(3) The Minister may make regulations prohibiting, or limiting or controlling in a specified manner and to a specified extent, the recovery of any waste to which subsection (2) applies (hereafter in this section referred to as “relevant waste”).

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3), regulations under this section may make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters:

(a) a requirement that the recovery of relevant waste shall not be carried out without the prior written consent of the local authority in whose functional area the proposed recovery activity is to take place, and enabling that local authority to attach such conditions to such a consent as it considers appropriate,

(b) the rate at which relevant waste may be spread on or injected into land,

(c) specifying—

(i) limits in respect of the constituent elements of relevant waste or of the concentration of such elements in land on which relevant waste is recovered, and

(ii) maximum annual quantities of the constituent elements of relevant waste which may be recovered on land,

(d) the treatment, sampling and analysis, in a specified manner, of relevant waste and the monitoring, sampling and analysis, in a specified manner, of land on which such waste is recovered,

(e) restricting the use of land on or in which relevant waste is recovered,

(f) (i) the keeping by a person of records containing specified particulars as respects—

(I) the production, treatment, recovery, or the transfer to another person, of relevant waste,

(II) the monitoring, sampling and analysis of relevant waste or of land on which such waste is recovered,

(ii) the entry in a register required to be established and maintained for the purpose by a local authority of particulars as aforesaid,

(iii) the furnishing of specified information to a local authority or any other specified person in relation to the matters referred to in subparagraph (i),

(g) the furnishing by a local authority to the Agency of such information regarding waste referred to in subsection (2) (a) (i), in such manner and at such times, as the Agency may require and the preparation and publication by the Agency—

(i) of a report, by a specified date, regarding the recovery and disposal of the said waste,

(ii) of further reports, at specified intervals after the said date, regarding the said recovery and disposal,

(h) the issue of directions or guidance to local authorities with respect to the performance of their functions under regulations under this section,

(i) requiring compliance by specified persons with specified codes of practice concerning the carrying on of any recovery activity in respect of relevant waste,

(j) any matters consequential on, or incidental to, the foregoing.

(5) A person who contravenes a provision of regulations under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) For the purpose of this section, other than subsection (4) (a), “local authority” includes the corporation of a borough of any kind and the council of an urban district.