Treating and disposing of hazardous/special waste
If your business produces hazardous/special waste, you must make sure that it is disposed of or treated by an appropriate facility. You must not treat your own hazardous/special waste unless you are authorised to do so, and have the required in-house skills and facilities. Hazardous waste is waste that may be harmful to human health or the environment
Some hazardous/special waste such as solvents, waste oils and metals can be recovered and recycled. Some hazardous/special waste can be incinerated, usually with other fuels, to generate power. Specialist incinerators for the most difficult hazardous/special wastes work at extremely high temperatures and have strict emission controls.
Treating hazardous/special waste
Treatment involves physical, thermal, chemical or biological processes (including sorting) that change the characteristics of waste in order to:
- reduce its volume
- reduce its hazardous nature
- make it easier to handle
- make it easier to recover
Diluting hazardous/special waste by mixing it with non-hazardous materials doesn't qualify as treatment. If hazardous/special waste is mixed in this way it must still be classified and managed as hazardous/special waste, or separated when it is safe to do so.
Mixing different categories of hazardous/special waste, or hazardous/special waste with non-hazardous waste or non-waste, is only allowed in certain circumstances and always requires an authorisation, such as a permit.
Disposing of hazardous/special waste
You must only dispose of hazardous/special waste at authorised sites.
You should try to reduce and recycle your hazardous/special waste before sending it for disposal.
See the page in this guideline: Reducing your hazardous/special waste
Make sure that your waste is transported by an authorised waste carrier.
NIEA: Registered waste carriers database
In Scotland, contact SEPA to find out if your waste carrier is authorised. You can also find a list of registered waste carriers online:
Disposing of hazardous/special waste to landfill
If you intend to take hazardous/special waste to a landfill site, you must use a site that is authorised to accept it.
Hazardous waste landfill sites may not be able to take all types of hazardous/special waste. Landfill sites will only accept certain types of hazardous/special waste if all of the following requirements are met:
- the landfill site's permit allows the type of waste
- waste acceptance criteria (WAC) are met
- the landfill operator is prepared to accept the waste.
Certain types of hazardous/special waste are banned from landfill sites including those that are explosive, corrosive, flammable or infectious. All liquid waste is also banned from landfill.
Hazardous/special waste must be treated before it is sent to landfill.
Exporting hazardous/special waste
Hazardous/special waste can only be exported for recovery or recycling (not for disposal) to another Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country. Exports can only be made by authorised treatment facilities.
Further Information
- Waste Thesaurus: SEPA guidance for coding waste An alphabetical list of waste types with their corresponding EWC codes.
- Find licensed waste sites to recycle or dispose of business waste in your area
- NIEA: Hazardous waste guidance (Northern Ireland)
- SEPA: Special waste guidance (Scotland)