The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (
initialism: EPA) is an
Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...
that defines, within
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, the fundamental structure and authority for
waste management and control of
emissions into the
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
.
Overview
Part 1: establishes a general regime by which the
Secretary of State, the
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, can prescribe any process or
substance and set limits on it respective of its emissions into the environment. Authorisation and enforcement was originally in the hands of
HM Inspectorate of Pollution and