Waste carriers and hazardous waste: SEPA and NIEA rules for Scotland and Northern Ireland

If you collect, carry, broker, treat or produce waste in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the England and Wales hazardous waste rules do not do the job. Each nation has its own regulator and its own hazardous waste system. Scotland calls hazardous waste special waste, uses codes bought from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and moved carrier registration into a new authorisation regime on 1 November 2025. Northern Ireland has its own Hazardous Waste Regulations and a separate carrier register run by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

Carrier registration works differently in the two places. SEPA says that if you carry waste between Scotland, England and Wales, you register with the agency where your main business activity takes place and that registration is valid in all three countries. Northern Ireland is not covered by it: if you carry waste to or from Northern Ireland you must register with both SEPA and NIEA.

This guide covers Scotland and Northern Ireland. It does not cover carrier registration or hazardous waste in England or Wales; see the Waste carrier registration guide for those. For landfill tax, including Wales, see the Scottish Landfill Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax guide.

Which rules apply to you

• Waste collection, treatment and disposal (division 38): you need carrier or broker registration wherever you carry waste, you move hazardous waste on consignment notes, and in Scotland you must keep separated recycling streams apart.
• Remediation and other waste management (division 39): the controls on classifying, mixing, recording and depositing hazardous waste matter most to you, as well as registration if you carry or broker the waste.
• Construction (division 41): you need a carrier registration if you take away waste, including your own construction and demolition waste. In Scotland that registration is free and is for your own waste only. In Northern Ireland it is the upper tier.
• Motor trades (division 45): waste oil, oil filters, brake fluid and most waste vehicle batteries are hazardous waste and need consignment notes. In Scotland you must also separate dry recyclables from your general waste.

Scotland

Carrier registration and the duty of care

Special waste: moving it

Special waste: handling and recording it

Sorting your business waste

Northern Ireland

Carrier, broker and dealer registration

Hazardous waste: moving it

Hazardous waste: handling and recording it

The two regimes side by side

Steps to get compliant

If you carry waste, or arrange it for others

1. Register in the right place. SEPA says a registration from the agency where your main business activity takes place (SEPA, the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales) is valid in Scotland, England and Wales. It does not cover Northern Ireland, where you also need NIEA registration.
2. Register as a broker or dealer if you arrange waste for others without carrying it. Scotland and Northern Ireland both require it.
3. Show your registration to your customers and quote your authorisation reference in any advertising in Scotland.
4. Complete a transfer note for each load of non-hazardous waste, and a consignment note for each load of hazardous waste. Keep copies for the periods in the entries above.

If you produce hazardous waste, such as a garage or workshop

1. List your hazardous wastes. For a motor trade business, start with waste oil, oil filters, brake fluid and lead acid batteries.
2. Keep them apart. Do not add hazardous waste to other waste or to a different hazardous waste.
3. Buy a code for each consignment from SEPA in Scotland or NIEA in Northern Ireland, and have the note completed by the carrier and consignee as well as you.
4. Check your carrier and your destination. The carrier must be registered, and the site must be authorised to take the waste.
5. Keep your register and your copies. You need them to show SEPA or NIEA that you followed the rules.

If you are a remediation or waste treatment contractor

1. Classify every waste stream from your sites and keep the hazardous ones separate from the rest.
2. Check your authorisation for mixing or separating. In Scotland that is a SEPA permit or registration. In Northern Ireland mixing is banned unless your permit authorises it, and you must separate mixed waste where feasible.
3. Keep site records of where hazardous waste has been deposited on land, and send them to SEPA or NIEA when the permit ends.

If you are a builder or contractor

1. In Scotland, register for free as a carrier of your own waste if you take away only waste from your own work. Register for the transporting waste authorisation if you also carry other people's waste.
2. In Northern Ireland, register as an upper tier carrier for your own construction and demolition waste. The lower tier does not cover it.

If you run a motor trade business in Scotland

1. Separate dry recyclables (glass, metals, plastics, paper and card) from general waste and arrange separate collection.
2. Check the food waste rule if you run a café or canteen on site, and never put food waste in a drain.