Consent to Operate (CTO): the Board permission that lets production begin.

Consent to Operate (CTO) is the State Pollution Control Board permission that allows a unit to operate and to discharge effluent or emit air pollutants within stated limits. It is granted under the Water Act 1974 and the Air Act 1981 after the pollution control systems approved at CTE stage have been installed. It carries conditions the unit must comply with throughout its validity.

No. CTE permits establishment only. Production without a valid Consent to Operate is an offence under the Water and Air Acts and can attract directions for closure and stoppage of utilities. Trial runs are sometimes permitted, but only where the Board has expressly allowed them in writing.

Validity is set by the Board and varies with the pollution potential of the unit, Red category units receive the shortest validity and less polluting categories longer periods, on the principle that higher-risk operations should return for scrutiny more often. The exact term appears on the consent order, and renewal must be applied for before it expires.

Permitted effluent quantum and discharge standards, air emission limits and stack specifications, noise limits, hazardous waste handling and disposal routes, online monitoring where mandated for the category, periodic returns to the Board, and frequently a bank guarantee against specified compliance commitments. These conditions are enforceable and are what an inspection checks against.

The consent must be amended or applied for afresh at the higher capacity before the increase is operated. Running above the consented capacity is a breach in itself and also unsettles the effluent and emission basis on which the consent was granted. Where the expansion crosses an EIA Notification threshold, an Environment Clearance may be required before the Board will consider the higher capacity.

Site verification is a normal part of the CTO process, particularly for Red and Orange category units. The inspection checks that the treatment and control systems described in the application exist, are sized as stated and are functioning, and that waste streams are being managed as declared. Applications that cannot be corroborated on site are where refusals and adverse conditions originate.

Authorisation to handle hazardous waste arises under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules 2016, but in practice the Board issues it together with the consent so that a single order covers effluent, emissions and waste. It is therefore best applied for as part of the same file rather than pursued separately after the event.