Receiving hazardous waste or receiving special waste

Our NetRegs guidance on receiving waste or sewage sets out general requirements for receiving all types of waste. This page's guidance sets out additional requirements if your business is collecting or receiving hazardous waste, or collecting or receiving special waste.

Waste that has hazardous properties, which may make it harmful to human health or the environment, is called:

• hazardous waste in Northern Ireland
• special waste in Scotland.

Hazardous/special waste includes a wide variety of waste, such as asbestos, fluorescent light tubes and lead acid batteries.

What is hazardous/special waste?

What you must do

Check if you need a permit, licence or registered exemption

If you collect or receive hazardous/special waste at your site, you must have a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit, waste management licence or registered exemption.

You must comply with the conditions in your permit, including any conditions about receiving hazardous/special waste, or you can be fined or sent to prison.

Does your waste or sewage business need a permit, licence or exemption?

Put in place pre-acceptance and acceptance procedures

You will need to put in place pre-acceptance and acceptance procedures to check the suitability of the waste you receive. You can only receive hazardous/special waste if you are authorised to do so in your PPC permit or waste management licence.

For further information on acceptance procedures, see our guidance on receiving waste or sewage

Keep records and complete returns

If you handle hazardous/special waste, you must:

• complete the appropriate part of consignment notes or multiple collection consignment notes
• keep records of the waste and maintain your records in a register
• supply information to your environmental regulator or the emergency services when required
• keep records of where waste is kept or deposited on your site
• provide returns to producers, holders or consignors.

For further information see the guidance below.

NIEA: Hazardous waste publications and guidance

SEPA: Consigning special waste

Pre-notify your regulator

You must pre-notify the NIEA or SEPA at least three working days, but not more than one month, before you move hazardous/special waste by completing a consignment note.

Hazardous/special waste

NIEA: Hazardous waste

SEPA: Special waste