Airborne allergens, environmental waste and intensive agriculture
The UK government has set regulations to manage the health risks from airborne allergens like mould and pollen, as well as bioaerosols.
Applies to England
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Topic: environmental exposures
Air-related exposure: airborne allergens
Part of: Regulatory Guidance about Airborne Allergens
Key resources for composting and environmental permits:
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Airborne allergens, environmental waste and intensive agriculture
Environmental waste permits
Regulations under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 control emissions from composting sites, including airborne bioaerosols (such as fungal spores, bacteria, and allergens). The Environment Agency requires composting sites near sensitive locations like homes and schools to carry out risk assessments and take steps to reduce the impacts of bioaerosols and limit allergen exposure. These include introducing buffer zones and aeration controls.
You may need to apply to the Environment Agency for an environmental permit if your business uses, recycles, treats, stores or disposes of waste or mining waste. This permit can be for activities at one site or for mobile plants that can be used at many sites.
If you are carrying out a waste activity, you can find more information on the waste: environmental permits page and can meet the requirements using one of the following:
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a ‘regulatory position statement’ – the Environment Agency does not currently require a permit for that activity
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an ‘exemption’ – you do not need a permit for the activity, but you must still register your exemption with the Environment Agency
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a ‘standard rules permit’ – a set of fixed rules for common activities
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a ‘bespoke permit’ – tailored to your business activities
Intensive agriculture
Allergens like animal hair, fur, feathers, urine and grain dust are all potentially present in livestock buildings. These are affected by the way in which animals are housed. The use of dry animal feed and the presence of dry faecal waste has been linked to higher bioaerosol levels that may cause an allergic response as well as other illnesses such as organic dust toxic syndrome (ODTS), which has symptoms like fever, muscle ache and headaches.
There are measures that can be taken to reduce the impacts of bioaerosols that farm workers are exposed to, they can be viewed here: PPC bioaerosols (dust and particulates) potentially emanating from intensive agriculture and potential effects on human health.