Agricultural waste

Your waste responsibilities

Your business will produce waste, and you have a responsibility to ensure that you produce, store, transport and dispose of it without harming the environment. This is called your duty of care.

In the past, agricultural waste has not been covered by general waste controls. However, the same regulations that apply to commercial and industrial waste now also apply to agricultural waste.

Manure and slurry are not considered waste when used as a fertiliser on farms. There is, however, a range of environmental issues that you should be aware of.

Land spreading livestock slurries, silage effluent and solid manures

What you must do

Comply with your duty of care

The duty of care applies to controlled waste. Controlled waste includes agricultural waste, as well as commercial waste, industrial waste, hazardous/special waste, construction and demolition waste, and household waste.

As a business, you have a legal responsibility to ensure that you produce, store, transport and dispose of your business waste without harming the environment.

You must:

segregate, store and transport your waste appropriately and securely, making sure that you do not cause any pollution or harm to human health
take all reasonable steps to apply the waste hierarchy to the management of waste
present glass, metal, plastic, paper, and card (including cardboard) for separate collection
take steps to maintain the quality of these dry recyclables presented for recycling, such as avoiding contamination by non-target materials
check that your waste is transported and handled by people or businesses that are authorised to do so
complete waste transfer notes, including a full, accurate description of the waste, to document all waste you transfer, and keep them as a record for at least two years
complete consignment notes for movements of hazardous/special waste. See Using consignment notes for Hazardous/special waste

If a waste transporter (carrier) takes your waste away, you need to check that they are authorised to accept it.

The duty of care has no time limit. You are specifically responsible for your waste from when you produce it until you have transferred it to an authorised person. However, if you think that your waste is not being managed correctly you must take action to check and prevent this.

For more details see our guidance on Duty of Care

The NIEA has produced guidance aimed at farmers which deals specifically with agricultural waste.

NIEA: Duty of Care for Farmers - responsibilities for agricultural waste

Additional storage rules in Scotland

In Scotland, the storage of waste now falls under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations (EASR). These regulations operate alongside your Duty of Care obligations.

Temporary storage of waste at the place of production is covered by General Binding Rules, provided you comply with these rules.

You must store:

waste securely to prevent escape, pollution, or unauthorised access
waste for no longer than 12 months
liquid waste in suitable, robust containers that will not leak
waste oil (over 200 litres) in a secondary containment system
hazardous/special waste separately from other wastes

For more details see SEPA: Temporary storage at the place of production

Handle liquid wastes safely

If you handle liquid wastes, you must ensure:

they are stored securely on your site while they await disposal or recovery
they cannot escape into drains, watercourses or surrounding ground
any accidental spills are properly and effectively contained

Make sure you and your staff know where drains are located and where they discharge to in case of a spill.

Follow hazardous/special waste controls

Waste that is potentially harmful to humans and the environment is known as hazardous/special waste.

Most businesses produce some hazardous/special wastes. Examples include some types of batteries, fluorescent tubes, pesticide containers and certain paints.

You must:

store hazardous/special waste separately from other waste
store hazardous/special waste in sealed, labelled containers
use designated, secure, labelled, waterproof containment areas to store hazardous/special waste
bund containment areas for hazardous/special waste by building a secondary barrier around the main containment area to hold hazardous/special waste if the containers (e.g. drums) leak
use a consignment note when hazardous/special waste is moved and keep copies of consignment notes for three years

For more details see our Hazardous/special waste guidance

Some types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are classed as hazardous/special waste.

Animal carcasses

You must not normally bury or burn animal carcasses or parts of animal carcasses on your farm.

You may only bury animal carcasses in very limited circumstances: for emergency disease control or if you are in areas designated as 'remote areas' in the Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR).

For more details see our guidance on Animal carcass burial

You may only burn animal carcasses if you are in a designated remote area, if there is a disease outbreak and there is a lack of capacity at rendering plants and incinerators, or if transporting the carcasses would spread the disease.

For more details see our guidance on Farm animal incineration

Burial of poisoned rodents on farmland

You can bury small quantities of vermin that you have killed on your land. If you bury rodents, you must ensure that you don't cause water pollution.

The NIEA has produced guidance with conditions which you must meet if you bury rodent carcasses on your land in Northern Ireland.

For more details see NIEA: Regulatory position statement - Burial of rodents poisoned on farmland

SEPA consider the burial of poisoned rodent carcasses on farmland a low-risk waste activity. You do not need authorisation from SEPA to carry out this activity, if you follow standard rules.

For more details see SEPA low risk waste activities

Treating and disposal of waste

Burying waste

You must not bury waste in a farm dump or tip on your farm unless you have a:

pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit, in Northern Ireland
an EASR permit, in Scotland

Contact your environmental regulator

However, turning a farm dump into a compliant landfill site is an impractical and expensive solution for most farmers.

Burning on-farm waste

Burning waste on farms can harm the environment and should be avoided where possible.

You must never burn the following wastes:

Plastics (such as bale wrap, netting, silage bags or wraps)
Treated or painted wood
Rubber and tyres
Chemical containers or pesticide packaging
Animal by-products and fallen stock

In certain circumstances you may be authorised to burn waste – See our Controls on burning waste in the open guidance

Anaerobic digestion

You may be able to treat your biodegradable waste using anaerobic digestion. This uses natural bacteria to convert waste into:

biogas, which can be used to generate electricity and/or heat
liquid, which can be used as a fertiliser
solid, which can be used a soil improver

Increasingly AD is being used to make the most of our waste by turning it into renewable energy.

For more details see our Anaerobic digestion guidance

Composting

If you make compost from waste materials or store compost made from waste materials, you will likely need:

a waste management licence, or have registered an exemption, in Northern Ireland
an EASR authorisation, in Scotland

If you make compost from waste materials or store compost made from waste materials, you must have an authorisation from your environmental regulator.

For more details see our Composting guidance

Transporting waste

You must only pass your waste to, or have it collected by an authorised person.

In Northern Ireland, anyone who collects and transports your waste must have the appropriate authorisation. For example:

be a registered carrier of controlled waste, or
be exempt from registration as a carrier - this includes your local council's waste collection services

Contact your local council

From April 2026 in Scotland:

· All waste transporters must be authorised under EASR

See: Transporters of waste (waste carriers), brokers and dealers

You must check and keep proof that anyone that you pass your waste to is authorised to take it. If you do not check and keep proof of this you could be held responsible if your waste is disposed of illegally, for example by fly-tipping.

You can check your environmental regulator's database of registered transporters/carriers, brokers and professional collectors of waste.

If you are in any doubt about someone's authority to carry your waste, you must contact your environmental regulator.

Contact your environmental regulator

For more information see our guidance Duty of Care – Who can deal with your waste?

Transporting your own agricultural waste

If you normally and regularly transport your own agricultural waste you will require authorisation.

In Northern Ireland, you must complete a one-off registration with the NIEA – See our guidance on Waste carrier, broker and dealer registration
In Scotland, you must have an EASR registration from SEPA – See: Transporting your own waste (SEPA)

If you are not certain whether you should be registered, contact your environmental regulator.

Transferring waste

Make sure that you only pass your waste to someone who is authorised to take it. Anyone who recycles, treats, stores, reprocesses or disposes of your waste must have an appropriate:

waste management licence or pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit, or a registered exemption, in Northern Ireland,
EASR authorisation, in Scotland

Use our Waste site directories to find licensed recycling and waste disposal sites in your area.

For more information see our guidance: Who can deal with your waste

Use waste transfer notes

You must complete a waste transfer note (WTN) for every load of waste you pass to others. This will include a detailed description of the waste.

You may be able to use a 'season ticket' if you have regular collections of waste of the same type and from the same place, by a waste carrier. This is one transfer note covering a series of transfers over a year, for example weekly collections of waste from shops or commercial premises or multiple lorry trips to remove a large heap of waste. If you use a season ticket you must keep a log of the individual waste transfers.

A WTN shows carriers and site operators who handle your waste what they are handling. WTNs also ensure that there is a clear audit trail for the waste from when it is produced until it is disposed of.

A WTN must be completed and signed by both the person sending the waste and the person collecting it.

Waste holders and transporters must carry the WTN alongside the waste it relates to and must produce the note if stopped by an authorised officer. If the movement is covered by an annual note which is held at a different location, this note will have to be made available on request.

You must keep copies of all your WTNs for at least two years and be able to produce them on demand to your environmental regulator or local council, or you could be fined.

There is no standard WTN. Many waste carriers produce their own versions.

WTNs can now be in electronic format, if they are legible and include an authenticated electronic signature.

For more information on WTNs, see our guidance Duty of care - Complete waste transfer notes

Further information

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