Environment Officer – WASTE
Climate change will significantly impact the Environment Agency’s work. As part of our commitment to protecting people and nature, we are responsible for:
- Taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Regulating low-carbon and renewable energy schemes
- Helping people and wildlife adapt to the impacts of a changing climate
We consider the effects of severe weather and a changing climate in everything we do. To ensure we are prepared, we:
- Assess how climate change affects the environment and what it means for our customers—for example, the impact on water demand and availability
- Design our flood defences and infrastructure to remain effective in a changing environment
- Develop robust plans to respond to emergencies such as floods and droughts
- Provide advice, guidance, and technical information to help customers and partners factor in climate change—for instance, supporting local planning authorities in using future flood allowances when assessing flood risk
By taking these steps, we help communities, businesses, and the natural environment build resilience to climate change.
Environment Officer
As an Environment Officer, you will play a vital frontline role in protecting and improving the environment, helping to create a cleaner, safer, and healthier world for people and wildlife. You will tackle a wide range of environmental issues, from regulating permitted and illegal operations to protecting rivers and waterways.
As a regulator, you will be expected to take enforcement action when businesses or individuals fail to comply with relevant legislation. In some cases, this may involve providing evidence in court.
Responding to incidents is a key part of the role. You will be required to take on an incident role and be available to respond to environmental emergencies or support business continuity during an incident.
Training & Development
You will enter the role at EOA grade and follow a structured development programme to progress to EOB grade. This process is expected to take up to 18 months and is awarded upon demonstrating the required capabilities.
In the initial months, some training will be residential, lasting 3 to 5 days at a time for at least 3 weeks in total. This will require travel and overnight stays to complete the training.
Waste Environment Officer
Based in one of our area offices as an Environment Officer – Waste, you will be responsible for regulating a range of waste management companies related to their permitted activities. You will be expected to regulate a wide variety of waste industry sectors and business models from small individual operators to large corporate bodies, who use a wide variety of chemical, biological and physical treatment processes in their waste management activities ensuring they are carried out without polluting the environment or causing harm to people. The sectors we regulate include landfill, biowaste, textiles, food & drink and metals.
You will also be responsible for:
- Enforcing regulations, taking action against breaches, and potentially providing evidence in court.
- Tackling illegal waste activities to protect legitimate businesses and prevent environmental harm.
- Working with external partners, including local authorities, police, fire and rescue services, and the public.
- Understanding business financial incentives and helping industries adopt sustainable practices.
- Engaging with local businesses and communities, using strong customer service skills.
- Responding to environmental incidents, sometimes out of hours (with potential additional payment).
You will also:
- Work collaboratively within a team, receiving backup from colleagues and incident support staff
- Using your excellent customer service skills to engage with local business, communities, and operators
- Enforce environmental regulations and ensure waste management companies improve their performance
- Travel frequently and sometimes unexpectedly to various sites to conduct inspections and take action if environmental regulations have been breached
The waste industry faces challenges to constantly strive to minimise and reduce waste, recycle and prevent waste going to disposal routes which have higher environmental impact. This makes the waste industry one of the most interesting, varied and innovative sectors to work with. Learning how the industry works, how to follow the financial incentives for business, and future proof industry is an extremely interesting and rewarding part of the role that will equip you as a regulator to engage positively with industry partners.
Various locations available
Testimonials
Waste Environment Officer
I am an Environment Officer (EO) for the Waste team in Hertfordshire and North London. Having joined the Environment Agency only 19 months ago, my journey as an EO is still very much in its inception. This is, in no small part, due to the myriad of roles and development opportunities, both assigned and offered to you as a member of the broader Regulatory Team.
The breadth of responsibilities afforded encompass not only the day-to-day regulation of the waste industry, but also include incident response, intelligence gathering for illegal operations, joint working partnerships with the Emergency Services and consultancy for a variety of planning proposals.
The role of an EO in waste regulation is crucial, our societies incessant and nihilistic passion for consumption, exacerbated by decades of deregulated, profit driven business models, has led to an industry of excessive production focused on convenience and disposability over sustainability. Resulting in unprecedented amounts of waste and bringing the industry, among others, to the forefront of environmental concern. It is for this reason that regulating this industry is so rewarding.
Irrespective of the importance of the Environment Agency’s part in environmental protection, there is a strong focus here on employee wellbeing. Flexible working hours allow for a great work-life balance and your mentors and managers are always there to support you.
The thing I love most about the day job is the variety of work, one day I can be on a planned farm visit ensuring the pollution risks of the farm have been addressed and legislation is being complied with, the next day I could be investigating a sewage spill into a river and ensuring the environmental impact is limited and the site stops it’s pollution. Tracing pollutions can turn you into a detective and when you find the source and stop the pollution you have a huge sense of achievement. Getting outside to see the effects we are having on our environment and being able to both advise and enforce on legislation makes this an interesting job. The mix of both planned and reactive work is exciting.
On a personal level, being a father with 2 young children and having a positive work life balance is very important to me. The Environment Agency provides great flexibility and really benefits my home life which allows me to be my best in work.
FAQ
For more information, check out our FAQ document, which covers common questions about the role and application process.