Sector
Environment & Sustainability
Waste management, recycling, environmental consulting and green services.
Start here
Packaging producer compliance journey
If you put packaged goods on the market — producer fees are live
Starting a waste business
Starting a waste business — permits and duty of care
Waste compliance quick check
The waste-operator self-audit
Set up a remediation business
Land remediation and decontamination services
Responding to environmental enforcement
Facing environmental enforcement? Start here
Who regulates you
See all 13Environment Agency (opens in a new tab)
Environmental protection in England. Regulates waste, emissions, water quality, flood risk, and environmental permits for industrial activities. Enforces environmental law and issues permits for …
Enforces 8 Acts this sector relies on.
SEPA (opens in a new tab)
Scotland's principal environmental regulator. Protects and improves Scotland's environment. Issues environmental permits for waste, emissions, water abstraction, and radioactive substances. Enforces environmental law and …
Enforces 8 Acts this sector relies on.
NRW (opens in a new tab)
Principal environmental regulator for Wales. Combines functions of Environment Agency Wales, Countryside Council for Wales, and Forestry Commission Wales. Issues environmental permits, manages natural …
Enforces 7 Acts this sector relies on.
OEP (opens in a new tab)
Independent body established post-Brexit to scrutinise environmental law and investigate complaints about public authorities' failures to comply with environmental law in England and Northern …
Enforces 5 Acts this sector relies on.
DEFRA (opens in a new tab)
Government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries, and rural communities. Sets environmental policy and works with agencies (EA, NE) …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
NIEA (opens in a new tab)
Northern Ireland's environmental regulator. Part of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). Issues environmental permits, regulates waste and emissions, protects water …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
Key legislation
See all 31What’s changing
Environmental Permitting (Waste Controlling or Transporting) and Relevant Functions of Primary Authorities (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026
The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026
General rules
Common requirements that apply across industries. Conditions such as employing people or operating premises are shown only after they are known.
Meet your business waste duty of care
Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.
Applies across industries.
General ruleFile your confirmation statement
File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.
Applies across industries.
General ruleVerify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC
Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.
Applies across industries.
General ruleCheck if you need to register for VAT
You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.
Applies across industries.
All guidance for environment & sustainability
Compliance & Legal
5
Meet your environmental permits, waste and construction duties for remediation
Treating contaminated soil or waste on site needs an environmental permit or registered exemption, and moving waste off site needs carrier registration. Every load needs duty of care paperwork, and because remediation is often construction work that disturbs asbestos, CDM and asbestos rules apply too.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Meet your waste management regulatory duties
Before you transport waste or arrange its disposal, you must register as a waste carrier, broker or dealer, and every waste facility needs an environmental permit. The duty of care covers all your waste, and each hazardous waste movement needs a consignment note.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Meet your sewerage regulatory duties
In England and Wales, you need an appointment from Ofwat to provide sewerage services as an undertaker. Discharging treated effluent to rivers or groundwater needs an environmental permit, and spreading sewage sludge on farmland is controlled.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Understanding the Water Framework Directive for businesses
If your business abstracts water, discharges to rivers or groundwater, or works in or near a watercourse, the Water Framework Directive shapes your permits. Regulators must refuse or condition any permit that would let a water body fall a status class, and each part of the UK applies it through its own regulations.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Get authorisation for a water activity in Scotland (EASR)
In Scotland, any activity affecting surface water or groundwater, such as abstraction, engineering or discharges, needs SEPA authorisation, and doing it without one is a criminal offence. SEPA decides which of four risk-based tiers your activity falls into, from general binding rules to a permit.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Environment & Sustainability
5
Account for Landfill Disposals Tax in Wales
If you operate a landfill site in Wales, you must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority before you start taxable disposals, then file a return and pay Landfill Disposals Tax every quarter. Anyone who makes or knowingly permits an unauthorised disposal can be charged the tax too.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Account for Scottish Landfill Tax
If you hold the permit for a landfill site in Scotland, you must notify Revenue Scotland that you are making taxable disposals, then file a return and pay Scottish Landfill Tax every quarter. Businesses that only send waste to landfill pay through the operator and do not register.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Register as a waste carrier and move special waste in Scotland
If your business carries waste in Scotland, even its own, you must register with SEPA before you move it. Hazardous waste is called special waste in Scotland, and every load must travel on a consignment note that carries a SEPA code, with the paperwork kept for inspection.
Relevant across several parts of this sector.
Register as a waste carrier and move hazardous waste in Northern Ireland
To carry or broker waste in Northern Ireland you must register with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, even if you already hold a Great Britain registration. Hazardous waste must travel on a consignment note with an NIEA code, and most movements must be pre-notified.
Relevant across several parts of this sector.
Registering as a waste carrier
If your business transports waste, even its own, you must register as a waste carrier before you start; carrying waste unregistered is a criminal offence. You need upper tier registration if you carry other people's waste for payment or any construction or demolition waste.
Applies if you move waste by road or take waste away from other people's sites
Sector-Specific
2
Run a vehicle dismantler or salvage business
To depollute and scrap end-of-life vehicles you need an environmental permit and Authorised Treatment Facility status, because only an ATF can issue a Certificate of Destruction. To trade in scrap metal or salvage you also need a scrap metal dealer licence from your local authority.
Applies if you dismantle or salvage vehicles for parts or scrap, including treating end-of-life vehicles
Working in the civil nuclear industry
Regulatory compliance requirements for businesses operating in the civil nuclear industry including site licensing, security vetting, liability insurance, and decommissioning obligations under Office for Nuclear Regulation oversight.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Subsectors
SIC 2007 divisions covered by this sector.
Waste Collection & Recycling
Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery
SIC 38