Waste carrier registration (Scotland): SEPA authorisation under EASR 2018
Who must register with SEPA to transport waste in Scotland since carrier registration moved into the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 on 1 November 2025, the three registrations, SEPA fees, the penalty, and the duty of care transfer note that goes with it.
If you transport waste as part of your business in Scotland, you must be registered as a waste carrier, even if you only do it occasionally. If your main business activity is in Scotland, that means registering with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). That includes builders and contractors who take away the waste from their own sites. Since 1 November 2025 registration sits in the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (SSI 2018/219), which the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 (SSI 2025/165) extended to waste.
The older carrier rules no longer apply in Scotland. SSI 2025/165 revoked the Controlled Waste (Registration of Carriers and Seizure of Vehicles) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/1624) in full as they apply in Scotland, and repealed the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 in Scotland. Both continue to exist elsewhere in Great Britain. If an old contract, procedure or website still tells you to register under those instruments, treat it as out of date. SEPA's waste activities page confirms that from 1 November 2025 waste management activities are regulated under the 2018 Regulations.
- Transporting waste (EASR-SC-035)
- For carrying waste produced by another person, such as commercial collections, skip hire and house clearances. This is the registration a waste carrier needs
- Transporting your own waste (EASR-SC-034)
- For carrying only waste your own business produces, such as a plumber, joiner, roofer or gardener taking away their own waste. If you produce only your own construction and demolition waste, this is the one you need, unless you also carry other people's waste
- Waste broker or dealer (EASR-SC-036)
- A separate registration for arranging other businesses' waste to be handled, transported, disposed of or recovered, or buying waste for resale without taking possession of it
- SEPA fees for transporting waste (EASR-SC-035)
- New registration £304.10. SEPA also charges for variations, transfers, surrenders and renewals (its pages list £212.87 to add an activity and £91.23 to surrender, and show £198.55 against both transfers and renewals), so check its current charging scheme before you pay
- SEPA fee for transporting your own waste (EASR-SC-034)
- No fee
- How long a transporting waste registration lasts
- Three years. A transfer to a new holder does not reset the period
- Penalty for not registering
- SEPA states that failing to register may result in a fine of up to £5,000
- Carrying waste across Great Britain and to Northern Ireland
- SEPA says that if you transport waste between Scotland, England and Wales you register with the agency where your primary business activity takes place, and the authorisation is valid in all three countries. If you transport waste to and from Northern Ireland, you must register with both SEPA and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency
- Standard conditions for transporting waste (EASR-SC-035)
- Inspect waste before transport to make sure it matches the waste transfer note, and give your authorisation reference to waste sources and include it in any advertising of your services
- Duty of care records
- The transferor and transferee keep the written description of the waste and the transfer note for two years, and must produce them to SEPA or a waste collection authority within 7 days of a request (regulations 5 and 6 of SSI 2014/4)
What you must do
- Choose the right registration. Carrying anyone else's waste needs the transporting waste registration. Carrying only your own waste needs the no-fee transporting your own waste registration. If you arrange waste for others without carrying it, you may need the broker or dealer registration instead.
- Apply through SEPA's digital application service. Variations, transfers and surrenders of a transporting waste registration are handled on paper forms. Pay by card online, or by BACS for paper applications.
- Show your authorisation reference. Give it to the people whose waste you take and include it in any advertisement for waste collection.
- Complete a transfer note for every load of non-hazardous waste. Under the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (SSI 2014/4), a transfer note signed by both sides must name both parties, the date and place, whether the transferor produced the waste, the type, composition and quantity of the waste, the six-digit European Waste Catalogue code and the SIC code for the transferor's activity. Hazardous ('special') waste that travels with a consignment note is exempt from the transfer note rule (regulation 4).
- Check who you hand waste to. Your duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 covers making sure waste goes to an authorised person or site. Keep copies of the paperwork for two years.
Hazardous waste that you carry needs a special waste consignment note with a SEPA code. See the Scottish special waste consignment entry.