Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
If your business operates a landfill,
You must comply with the conditions in your authorisation or you can be fined or sent to prison.
Pollution prevention and control permits
Your landfill will be classified according to the type of waste it accepts. There are three categories of landfill sites:
Your permit will state the classification of your landfill. You must only accept the type of waste that your site is authorised to deal with. In Scotland hazardous waste is called special waste.
When you receive waste at your landfill, you must check the European Waste Catalogue (EWC) code given to the waste in the waste transfer note or consignment note. The EWC code classifies waste into hazardous waste, mirror hazardous waste or non-hazardous waste. You can only accept wastes with EWC codes that match the codes listed in your permit.
Consolidated version of the European Waste Catalogue (Adobe PDF - 162KB)
If you operate a landfill site, you must also be suitably qualified.
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, if you operate a licensed waste management facility you must demonstrate that you are a 'fit and proper person' by holding a WAMITAB Certificate of Technical Competence (CoTC).
Scotland
In Scotland, if you operate a licensed waste management facility you must demonstrate that you are a 'fit and proper person', either by holding a WAMITAB Certificate of Technical Competence (CoTC) or by holding the relevant vocational certificates or equivalent certification from another approved scheme.
In Scotland, if you operate a landfill under a PPC permit you must demonstrate that you are a 'fit and proper person' by holding a WAMITAB Certificate of Technical Competence (CoTC).
You cannot accept certain waste at landfill sites, including:
In Scotland, from 01 January 2014, separately collected dry recyclables are banned from landfill.
Wastes that you must not landfill
There are special requirements for accepting certain waste, such as animal by-products, animal carcasses and food waste. For further information, see our animal by-products guidance.
You must make sure that the waste producer has characterised the waste before you accept it at your site. This involves assessing the waste's:
solubility | chemical composition |
leachability | physical form |
biodegradability | hazardous properties |
combustibility | homogeneity/heterogeneity |
volatility |
Once you have accepted waste at your site you will need to:
You can only accept waste at your landfill if it meets the waste acceptance criteria required for the class of your landfill listed in your permit.
You must obtain proof that the waste you accept has been appropriately pre-treated, where necessary, before you accept it at your landfill site. For example, you will need proof that sewage sludge has been dewatered.
You should contact your environmental regulator for advice if you identify waste that:
Contact your environmental regulator
If you transfer waste to another landfill site you must make sure that it is authorised to accept your type of waste. You can do this by checking the site's PPC permit.
You must also comply with the Duty of Care.
Duty of Care - your waste responsibilities.
In Scotland waste must be pre-treated as a requirement of your PPC permit.
For hazardous landfills, the requirement for pre-treatment came into force in 2005.
Depending on your customers, you may want to make some changes to your waste management services. For example, do your customers already treat their own waste? If not, you may want to consider extending your services to include treatment. You could introduce sorting or screening to separate wastes for recycling or composting.
If you introduce new waste services you must contact your environmental regulator well in advance to find out whether your pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit needs to be changed.
Contact your environmental regulator
Tell your customers if you will be providing any new services, or tell them about other sites where they could treat their waste. Use our Waste Directory to find licensed recycling and waste disposal sites in your area.
NIEA: Landfill (Northern Ireland)
Groundwater in Northern Ireland, DAERA have produced a leaflet to raise awareness about this untapped resource
EU Exit, EU Exit useful information
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