Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
You must ensure that anyone who handles your waste has the correct permit, registration or exemption.
Your transporter of waste has to be registered with SEPA or NIEA; and anyone who recycles, treats, stores, reprocesses or disposes of your waste must have:
Anyone who collects and transports your waste must be either:
This will include your local council's waste collectors of waste.
People who may be authorised to collect your waste include:
You must check that your waste carrier is registered or holds an exemption. You need to keep evidence of this so you can prove you have checked if necessary.
Ask to see your waste carrier's certificate of registration or a certified copy of it, which will show when their registration expires. Photocopies do not provide evidence of registration. You can take a photocopy of the certificate for your own records, date it and write on it that you have seen the original. In Scotland, authorised credit card sized copies of the certificate are also acceptable proof of registration.
NIEA: Registered waste carriers database
SEPA: Registered waste carriers and brokers
certain types of organisation and carriers of certain waste types, such as animal by-products waste, mines and quarry wastes, and agricultural waste, are exempt from waste carrier registration but still need to go on a register of professional collectors and transporters of waste. They won't have a certificate, but they should still be able to provide proof of registration in the form of a letter confirming their registration.
if you only transport waste produced by your own business, you do so normally and regularly, and that waste is not construction or demolition waste, you must be registered with the NIEA as Lower Tier Carrier of controlled waste; registration is free. If you transport your business waste but that is construction and demolition waste, you must be registered with the NIEA as Upper Tier.
DAERA NI: Register as a Lower Tier carrier
DAERA NI: Registration of carriers and brokers
if you normally and regularly transport waste produced by your own business, you must register with SEPA as a professional collector or transporter of waste. If you transport your own construction or demolition waste you must usually register as a waste carrier instead. Register online.
NetRegs: Duty of Care for waste (Scotland) leaflet (PDF - 997KB)
NIEA: Registered carriers - database
SEPA: Registered waste carriers and brokers - database
NIEA: Waste duty of care – a code of practice
NIEA: Waste duty of care - a short guide
Scottish Government: Duty of care - a code of practice
What is the duty of care for waste?
New waste duties for businesses in Northern Ireland
New waste duties for businesses in Scotland
Who can deal with your waste
Waste Transfer Notes and how to complete them
European Waste Catalogue (EWC) - waste codes
Controls on specific types of waste
SEPA Special Waste Consignment Notes – updated position, The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is now accepting special waste consignment notes (SWCNs) by email only.
DAERA Waste Policy Tracker, The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has published a Waste policy tracker to stay informed of waste policy developments.
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