Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003
What this means for your business
- Enforced by
- Environment Agency, NIEA
- Applies to
- United Kingdom
- On this page
- 11 compliance obligations, 1 practical guide
What you must do
11 compliance obligations under this legislation.
Management duties 6
Comply with licence conditions for end‑of‑life vehicle treatment
If your business stores or treats end‑of‑life vehicles you must have a waste‑management or disposal licence that meets the requirements of Schedule 5. You must be in control of the operation and ensure that all treatment work follows the licence conditions, otherwise the licence can be refused or varied.
Comply with licence conditions for WEEE treatment
If your business is authorised to store or treat waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), you must follow all the conditions that are set in your site licence. The Department makes sure the licence includes those conditions, so your day‑to‑day operations and record‑keeping need to align with them.
Comply with the Materials Facilities Code
If your business holds a waste management licence that allows you to treat waste material at a materials facility (granted or varied on or after 1 April 2025), you must follow the Materials Facilities Code. This means putting the code’s requirements into practice and keeping evidence that you are doing so.
Ensure waste oil regeneration and storage meet toxic and PCB limits
If your business holds a waste‑management or disposal licence that lets you regenerate or keep waste oil, you must make sure the oil you produce isn’t classified as toxic or dangerous waste and that any PCBs or PCTs are no more than 50 ppm. You also have to keep waste oil completely separate from any toxic waste or PCBs/PCTs.
Keep separately collected food waste free from mixing
If your business holds a waste‑management licence that lets you store or treat food waste, you must keep that food waste completely separate from any other waste or material. Mixing food waste with other streams that could hinder recycling is not allowed.
Proper keeping and treatment of end‑of‑life vehicles
If your business stores or processes scrapped cars, you must follow the EU waste‑vehicle directive and the technical rules set out in this Schedule. This means using sites with impermeable floors, spill‑control and water‑treatment facilities, storing batteries, fluids and hazardous parts safely, stripping and depolluting vehicles before shredding, and keeping components in a condition suitable for reuse or recycling.
Offences and prohibitions 2
Act as unregistered waste broker or dealer
Unlimited fineIf your business arranges the disposal or recovery of controlled waste for someone else but is not a registered broker or dealer (and does not fall within the listed exemptions), you are committing a criminal offence. On conviction in the magistrates' court you face an unlimited fine. No custodial sentence is provided for this breach.
Carry out exempt waste activity without registration
Fine up to £500If your business carries out a waste activity that is exempt from licensing but does not register it with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency after 19 June 2004, you commit an offence. On conviction you face a summary‑only fine of up to £500. No imprisonment is provided for this breach.
Registration and licensing 2
Apply for and keep registration as a waste broker or dealer
If your business arranges the collection or disposal of controlled waste for others, or buys and sells controlled waste, you must be registered with the Department. You need to submit the official form, provide the information they ask for, pay the relevant fee and ensure you have no recent convictions for waste‑related offences. The registration lasts three years and must be renewed (or a renewal applied for) within the six‑month window before it expires.
Register exempt waste activities and retain related plans for 2 years
If your business carries out a waste activity that is exempt from a licence, you must still register that activity using the specific registration requirements set out in the relevant schedule. You also need to keep copies of the plans and documents specified for that activity for at least two years.
Reporting and filing 1
Calculate and report battery recycling efficiencies
If your business manages a waste‑management licence that deals with batteries or accumulators, you must track how much of each item is successfully recycled. You’ll need to keep records of the input and output quantities for each recycling process and provide these figures to the Department as part of your licence conditions.
Penalties for non-compliance
2 penalties under this legislation. 1 carry an unlimited fine.
Act as unregistered waste broker or dealer
Unlimited fine
Carry out exempt waste activity without registration
Fine up to £500
Practical guidance
Our guides explain how to comply with the requirements above.
Sections and provisions
42 classified provisions from this legislation.
Duties 12
- Schedule 5 CONDITIONS FOR THE KEEPING OR TREATMENT OF END OF LIFE VEHICLES
- s.8 Notification of determination document sent
- s.9 Particulars to be entered in public registers monitoring information relating
- s.13 Waste oils
- s.19 Registration obligations
- s.26 End of Life Vehicles Directive A waste management licence
- Conditions of site licences: WEEE Conditions of site licences: WEEE The Department
- Conditions of waste management licences: calculati Conditions of waste management licences: calculation of recycling efficiencies of the recycling processes of waste batteries and accumulators
- Conditions of waste management licences: Materials Conditions of waste management licences: Materials facilities The Department
- Conditions of waste management licences: separatel Conditions of waste management licences: separately collected food waste The Department
- Conditions of waste management licences: waste bat Conditions of waste management licences: waste batteries and accumulators The Department
- Schedule 4 REGISTRATION OF BROKERS AND DEALERS OF CONTROLLED WASTE Department
Offences and penalties 3
Definitions 7
- s.1 Citation, commencement and interpretation
- s.2 Offences
- s.3 Technical competence
- s.11 Mobile plant controlled substance
- s.15 Amendments to the Groundwater Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998
- Schedule 1A Definition of “relevant waste” Relevant Waste
- Schedule 3 WASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE available techniques best best available techniques
Exemptions 10
- Schedule 2 EXEMPTIONS FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT LICENSING
- s.5 Pre-qualification technical competence
- s.10 Information to be excluded or removed from a register
- s.12 Health at Work
- s.16 Exclusion of activities under other control regimes from waste management licensing
- s.17 Exemptions from waste management licensing
- s.24 Amendment of the Special Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998
- s.25 Amendment of the Controlled Waste (Registration of Carriers and Seizure of Vehicles) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999
- Exclusion from waste management licensing: waste b Exclusion from waste management licensing: waste batteries and accumulators
- Food waste exemptions from waste management licens Food waste exemptions from waste management licensing