Does your life sciences business require a PPC permit?

You may require a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit from your environmental regulator or local council. For example, you will need a permit if your business has a production capacity above a certain level or if you use certain hazardous substances.

If your business is an installation or mobile plant you will need a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit from your environmental regulator.

An installation is a stationary technical unit, such as a self-contained building, permanent structure or fixed plant, used for listed activities.

A mobile plant is plant that can be moved and is used for listed activities.

Listed activities

These are industrial, waste or intensive farming activities that have an impact on the environment and are listed in the PPC regulations. They are split into categories:

  • Part A, B and C in Northern Ireland
  • Part A and B in Scotland

Listed activities that might be carried out by life sciences businesses include:

Permit Categories
Listed activity Northern Ireland Scotland

Producing plant health products and biocides

Part A

Part A

Producing pharmaceutical products, including intermediates

Part A

Part A

generating energy using boilers with a rated thermal input of 50MW or more

Part A

Part A

disposing of hazardous/special waste in a facility with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes a day

Part A

Part A

disposing of non-hazardous waste in a facility with a capacity of more than 50 tonnes a day

Part A

Part A

incineration of hazardous waste in an incineration or co-incineration plant

Part A

Part A

operating a new boiler or furnace with a thermal rating greater than 1 megawatt but less than 20 megawatts (From 20/12/2018)

  

Part B

generating energy using boilers with a net rated thermal input of 20-50MW or a combination of appliances which when added together, have a net rated thermal input exceeding 20 megawatts but less than a rated thermal input of 50 megawatts.

Part C

Part B

incinerating waste, in an incineration plant, which is authorised for incineration of radioactive waste

Part B

Part A

incinerating non-hazardous waste in a plant that is not an incineration plant or a co-incineration plant, but which has a capacity between 50kg and 1 tonne per hour (3 tonnes per hour in Scotland)

Part C

Part B

using appliances to burn types of waste that are excluded from the Waste Incineration Directive and have a rated thermal input of 0.4-3MW

Part C

Part B

What you must do

If your installation or mobile plant carries out listed activities you will need a permit from your environmental regulator.

Permits and regulators for listed activities

Activity category Northern Ireland Scotland

Part A

PPC permit regulated by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)

PPC permit regulated by SEPA

Part B

PPC permit regulated the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)

PPC permit regulated by SEPA

Part C

PPC permit regulated by local council

N/A

Contact your environmental regulator

You should contact your environmental regulator or local council for further information about listed activities. NetRegs does not provide detailed guidance on Part A activities.

If you are unsure whether you are affected by PPC, contact your environmental regulator or local council.

How to apply for a permit

Return to the menu of the PPC Permits by sector environmental topic