[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Environment Agency - Agricultural waste regulations

Agricultural waste regulations

How do you manage the waste that you produce on your farm? Perhaps you use old tyres on silage clamps, spread dredging from ditches on your farmland or use building rubble from farm buildings to repair your roads?

These are all examples of waste management activities. Before you do any of these things, you have to register a waste management licensing exemption with us.

The deadline for registering existing activities for your agricultural waste exemptions with us has passed. However, we can still accept notifications for a limited time. Register now and you are less likely to be inspected.

The new agricultural waste regulations affect whether or not you can burn, bury, store, use your waste on the farm or send it elsewhere. They came into force on 15 May 2006, when you needed to stop using your farm tip/dump and burning plastics and other materials. You also have to remember your Duty of Care when storing or passing your waste to someone else.

Farmers had until 15 May 2007 to comply with the new rules and to register for any agricultural waste exemptions. Registering is FREE and most exemptions only have to be registered once. If you ordered an exemption pack and haven't filled it in, please do so and return it to us as soon as you can.

If you haven't got a pack, you can still get one by calling our dedicated agricultural waste help-line on 0845 603 3113 and quoting product code: GEHO0106BJXN-E-P.

If you want to register online, you can do this using the Defra’s Whole Farm Approach (WFA). This is designed to lighten the regulatory burden on farmers and growers in England by bringing together the information requests from Defra and its partners in one system.

New rules for non-hazardous waste
After 30th October 2007 you can no longer send untreated waste to landfill. There are some simple ways in which you can comply with the new rules, although we think that most farmers are already complying.

For more information read our fact sheet New rules on agricultural waste - Treating non-hazardous wastes for landfill. (Acrobat, 59KB, 1 minute)

Three new exemptions
On May 2, Defra introduced three new waste management licensing exemptions. The deadline for registering these exemptions was 15 May 2007. We realise this is a busy time of year for farmers and because of this we will allow a period of grace until 15 July. This period of grace only applies to these three new exemptions and only if you don’t cause any pollution or harm.

These may apply to you, and if so, you need to contact us to register them:

Exemption 52: disposing of non-hazardous pesticide washings in a lined biobed
Exemption 53: mixing ash from incinerated pig and poultry carcasses with manure and spreading it to agricultural land
Exemption 54: spreading dredgings from farm ditches to agricultural land.

From 2 May, the exemption packs have included information about the three new exemptions. However, if you have already registered and just need the three new forms, you can order these on their own. Call our dedicated agricultural waste help-line on 0845 603 3113 and quote product code: GEHO0507BMLI-E-P to oder the agricultural waste exemptions pack inserts.

Please note if you have already registered an Exemption 25 with us you don't need to register Exemption 54. We will automatically register you and write to you to inform you.

Call our dedicated agricultural waste helpline on 0845 603 3113 for advice or a registration form.

Are you about to change the way you manage your waste or are you looking to start a new waste management business? You may need to register a new exemption if you don’t already have one registered with us that applies to the activity you intend to do. For new activities, you can register at any time before starting that activity. Call our helpline for advice.

Hazardous waste
The hazardous waste regulations applied to farmers from 15 May 2007.

Under these rules you need to:

know what hazardous waste you're producing
only give it to someone authorised to handle it and make sure it is disposed of at a properly authorised site
use a consignment note every time you or someone else removes hazardous waste from your farm
if you produce more than 500kg of hazardous waste a year (excluding scrap vehicles) you must register with us.

You can find out more about hazardous waste and your obligations here:

Dealing with hazardous waste
Find out how to register as a hazardous waste producer, what paperwork you need to complete and how you should deal with your hazardous waste under the Hazardous Waste Regulations.

Regulations

Who developed the regulations?
Defra have developed the new regulations taking into account the views of the Agricultural Waste Stakeholders' Forum. For more details visit the link below.

Guidance and support

What is waste? Do I produce it on my farm?
Your Duty of Care - giving your waste to other people
What shall I do with my waste when the new rules come in?
Are manure and slurries waste?
Download copies of agricultural waste publications
Latest guidance, reports and leaflets relating to agricultural waste.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) (Acrobat, 544KB, 4 minutes)

Further information
If you need more information on agricultural waste issues, ring our dedicated helpline: 0845 603 3113.

Environment Agency

Primary navigation: links to main site sections

Links trail: breadcrumb trail of selected links

Business and industry

Secondary navigation: links to other relevant sections

See also...

Agricultural waste regulations

Additional links: regional information