Farm waste
Waste management controls
What is agricultural waste?
There is no definitive list of what is or is not waste. However agricultural waste includes discarded pesticide containers, plastics such as silage wrap, bags and sheets, packaging waste, tyres, batteries, clinical waste, old machinery and oil etc.
Environmental Permitting Regime
From 6 April 2008, the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended) are being replaced by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. The new regulations will also encompass the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2006 (the Agricultural Waste Regulations) and the 2007 amendments to these regulations.
For more information and guidance on the Environmental Permitting Regime, see:
Whilst the Regulations have been replaced by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007, and waste management licences have been replaced by environmental permits, the content of the FAQ document attached below still applies as guidance on agricultural waste regulation:
Exemptions from Environmental Permitting
All of the exemptions from environmental permitting are currently under review, with a formal consultation due in July 2008. A new scheme of exemptions is due to be implemented in October 2009
For more information on the review of exemptions, please see the dedicated website:
- Review of Exemptions from Environmental Permitting
What can I do with my waste?
Agricultural waste will have to be disposed of, or recycled in ways that protect the environment and human health.
Farmers and growers will have to:
Unregulated burying and burning of agricultural waste on farms will be prohibited. The Environment Agency have produced a guidance leaflet titled “Stop tipping, Stop burning” it is available from their website. Please use the interim guidance link below. To find a local site/company who might be able to take your waste visit the Recycling Directory. Only sites/waste management companies who choose to be listed on the site are shown.
What can I start doing now?
You can think about minimising the waste you produce. This will mean you have less to dispose of and may save you money. For more information please contact Defra publications on 08459 556000 and ask for the free publication:
What about a scheme for recovering non-packaging farm plastics?
The separate consultations in 2004 by Defra and the Scottish Executive asked whether there should be a scheme to make producers of farm plastic responsible for its collection and recycling. The majority of consultation responses, which included manufacturers and importers of agricultural plastics and farmers, were in favour of this, and considered that the scheme should be statutory.
Government committed £1m of Business Resource Efficiency Waste (BREW) Programme funding over 3 years to fund a substantial body of research and practical trials examining how a producer responsibility scheme might be set up. This project finished in 2007. The results of this study can be found at www.agwasteplastics.org.uk.
For further details please visit Non-Packaging Agricultural Plastics
Manure and slurry
In a recent European Court judgment (Case C-416/02 European Commission v Kingdom of Spain) the Court ruled that:-
“89. As the United Kingdom Government correctly maintains in its statement of intervention, livestock effluent may, on the same terms, fall outside classification as waste, if it is used as soil fertiliser as part of a lawful practice of spreading on clearly identified parcels and if its storage is limited to the needs of those spreading operations.
90. Contrary to the Commission’s submission, it is not appropriate to limit that analysis to livestock effluent used as fertiliser on land forming part of the same agricultural holding as that which generated the effluent […].”
The effect of the judgment is to confirm that livestock effluent (e.g. manure and slurry) may fall outside classification as waste:-
(a) If it is used as a soil fertiliser and:-
(i) that use is part of a lawful practice of spreading; and
(i) the spreading takes place on clearly identified parcels of land; and
(b) If its storage is limited to the needs of those spreading operations;
(c) Furthermore, to fall outside classification as waste it is not necessary for livestock effluent used as fertiliser to be spread on land forming part of the same agricultural holding as that which generated the effluent.
Defra’s interpretation of the judgment is presented in the attached document sent to the Agricultural Waste Stakeholders’ Forum:
- Defra interpretation of European Court judgment (PDF 50 KB)
The full judgment can be obtained from the European Court of Justice’s website.
The Department’s letter to the Environment Agency before the judgment (2002) is available below:
Agricultural Waste Stakeholders' Forum
Has industry been involved in preparing the new Regulations? Yes, the Agricultural Waste Stakeholders' Forum has been set up with representatives from across the agricultural sector to prepare for the new rules. The Forum's Terms of Reference and summaries from meetings can be found on the Forum's web page.
Additional information
Information on the Agricultural Waste Regulations can be viewed in interim guidance produced by the Environment Agency which is available from their website or you can contact the Environment Agency’s Customer Contact Centre on 0845 603 3113.
Defra is not responsible for the content of any of the external websites linked to this page, and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Defra cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and has no control over the availability of any of these sites.
If you require more information on agricultural waste, you can contact us by email at agricultural.waste@defra.gsi.gov.uk or by telephone on 020 7082 8866.
Page last modified: 11 February 2010
Page published: 5 February 2003