Topic
Environmental compliance, waste management, emissions, and sustainability reporting
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.
If your business produces hazardous waste, such as waste oils, solvents, batteries or fluorescent tubes, classify it correctly, store it securely and use a carrier registered for hazardous waste. Every movement needs a consignment note, and mistakes are criminal offences.
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.
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.
Since 6 April 2024, every workplace in Wales, whatever its size, must separate recyclable waste into set streams, including paper and card, glass, and metals, plastics and cartons, and keep it out of general waste. Breaches can bring fixed penalties.
Comply with food waste segregation and disposal duties.
If your business has a turnover of more than £1 million and handles more than 25 tonnes of packaging a year, you must register and report packaging data under Extended Producer Responsibility. Large producers, with £2 million turnover and more than 50 tonnes, also pay disposal fees and meet recycling obligations.
If you make, import or rebrand electrical equipment or batteries, you usually count as a producer: join a compliance scheme, report what you place on the market each year and fund its recycling. Mark products with the crossed-out wheeled-bin symbol.
Register for EPR, report packaging data, and meet recycling obligations through PRN/PERN purchases or compliance schemes.
England has no car wash licence, but a fixed site may need planning permission if opening it is a material change of use. You need your water company's consent before wash water reaches a sewer, and you must pay the minimum wage and check the right to work of everyone who works for you.
About 55% of land in England lies in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, where you must limit livestock manure to a farm average of 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare a year, observe closed spreading periods, store manure adequately and keep records. Breaches can lead to an unlimited fine.
Since 2 April 2018, the Farming Rules for Water have applied to every farmer and land manager in England, whether or not you receive payments. You must plan each fertiliser and manure application, test cultivated soil at least every 5 years, and avoid spreading near water or on waterlogged or frozen ground.
A construction site in England must handle its waste lawfully, keep pollution out of drains and watercourses, and control dust, mud and noise. The Environment Agency enforces waste and pollution law and the local council enforces noise, dust and mud. Permit offences carry up to five years in prison.
Three legal regimes deal with contaminated land in England and Wales: the planning system when land is developed, Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as a safety net for land causing significant harm, and the Environmental Damage Regulations 2015 for new damage from certain commercial activities.
Under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the owner of contaminated land can be made to pay for its clean-up if the original polluter cannot be found, with no time limit. Before you buy, commission a Phase 1 desk study, then a Phase 2 investigation if it finds risks.
Northern Ireland has no single environmental permit. Each activity, from waste management and water discharge to industrial emissions and water abstraction, has its own permit under separate legislation, issued by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. A permit from another UK regulator does not cover Northern Ireland.
If your business discharges effluent, waste water or contaminated run-off into rivers, the sea or the ground, you need an environmental permit; discharging without one can mean up to 5 years in prison and an unlimited fine. Discharges to a public sewer need trade effluent consent from your water company instead.
If your local authority identifies your land as contaminated under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, it must consult you for at least 3 months before serving a remediation notice. It cannot serve one while you carry out suitable remediation voluntarily, which also keeps you in control.
Every business has a legal duty to stop pollutants escaping into water, air or land, and causing pollution can mean unlimited fines and up to 5 years in prison. Most business water pollution enters surface water drains, which run straight to rivers, so contain stored materials and plan for spills.
If a pollution incident happens at or near your business, report it straight away on 0800 80 70 60, which reaches the right regulator anywhere in the UK, and call 999 first if lives are at risk. Polluting controlled waters can mean up to 5 years in prison.
If you keep silage, slurry or more than 1,500 litres of agricultural fuel oil on a farm in England, the SSAFO Regulations set how stores must be built and kept. New or substantially changed stores must be at least 10 metres from water and notified to the Environment Agency 14 days ahead.
If you take more than 20 cubic metres of water a day from a river, stream, borehole or other natural source, you need an abstraction licence; abstracting without one is a criminal offence. Start early with a pre-application enquiry, because the regulator must check your abstraction won't harm the water body.
If your business discharges liquid waste other than domestic sewage into a public sewer, you need trade effluent consent from your sewerage company. Discharging without it is a criminal offence under the Water Industry Act 1991, with an unlimited fine.
You must have your environmental permit before starting a regulated activity; apply to the Environment Agency for Part A1 activities or your council for Part A2 and Part B. Applications need detailed site, operational and environmental information, and permits come with conditions and inspections.
You need an environmental permit before you run a regulated facility, such as an industrial installation, a waste operation, a medium combustion plant or a water discharge. Which regulator issues it depends on the activity. Operating without one is a criminal offence carrying up to 5 years in prison.
If your business stores oil in an above-ground container holding more than 200 litres, the oil storage regulations apply. The container needs a bund or other secondary containment holding at least 110% of its capacity, and fill points, pipework and mobile bowsers must meet set standards and be inspected regularly.
If your industrial activity releases pollutants to air, you need an environmental permit from the Environment Agency or your local authority, depending on its tier. The permit sets emission limits, monitoring and reporting duties, and operating without it or breaching it is an offence carrying up to five years in prison.
You need a site-specific flood risk assessment with your planning application for any development in Flood Zones 2 or 3, and in Flood Zone 1 for sites of 1 hectare or more or land at risk of flooding from any source. It shows the site will stay safe for its lifetime.
You need a flood risk activity permit from the Environment Agency before working on or near a main river, flood defence or sea defence in England. Low-risk work can be registered as an exemption; other work needs a standard rules or bespoke permit. Working without one can mean up to 5 years in prison.
How coastal erosion risk affects business premises, planning restrictions in Coastal Change Management Areas, Shoreline Management Plan policies, and options for coastal businesses including adaptation, rollback, and relocation.
Medium combustion plant (MCP) with thermal input between 1MW and 50MW require an environmental permit from the Environment Agency.
Check your premises' flood risk, then limit the harm. Fit barriers, valves and air brick covers to keep water out, raise electrics and choose water-resistant finishes to limit damage, write a flood plan with named roles and shut-off points, sign up for flood warnings and make sure your insurance covers flooding and lost trading.
If you run a Part A(1) installation in England, such as a combustion plant of 50MW thermal input or more, you need a bespoke permit from the Environment Agency before you operate. You must show best available techniques and, for new electricity-generating plant, decarbonisation readiness. Most new permits are decided within 4 months.
If you store oil at a business in Scotland, you must follow one of SEPA's general binding rules, and breaching it is a criminal offence. Most business storage falls under rule 28, which requires a sound container, secondary containment of 110% and overfill prevention.
How drought conditions affect businesses, including water company restrictions, temporary use bans, drought orders, abstraction licence restrictions, and practical steps to build water resilience into your operations.
If you run an installation covered by the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, you need a permit and registry account, must monitor emissions all year, submit a verified report by 31 March and surrender allowances to cover them by 30 April. Missing the surrender deadline brings a penalty for every allowance not surrendered.
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.
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.
Mandatory energy and emissions reporting requirements for large companies and LLPs.
Nature conservation law reaches ordinary farming in England through designated sites, protected species and hedgerows. On a Site of Special Scientific Interest you need Natural England's consent for listed operations, disturbing protected species usually needs a licence, and you must not cut hedgerows between 1 March and 31 August.
If your development involves demolition, building conversion, tree felling or land clearance, you may need ecological surveys for bats, great crested newts, badgers or nesting birds before work begins. The law protects these species whether or not you knew they were there, and many surveys can only run in certain seasons.
If your development could affect protected species such as bats or badgers, you need a wildlife licence from Natural England before work begins, even with planning permission. Natural England has charged for most licences since 2025, and bat surveys and badger sett closures are limited to certain seasons.
To remove a protected countryside hedgerow you must send a hedgerow removal notice to your local planning authority. It has 42 days to serve a retention notice on an important hedgerow. Intentionally or recklessly removing a hedgerow without following the process is an offence with an unlimited fine.
If you manage land in Scotland with wild deer on it, the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 requires you to prevent deer damaging farming, forestry and the natural heritage. Male deer have had no close season since 21 October 2023, but female deer are protected for set periods unless NatureScot authorises otherwise.
Scotland's nature conservation law is devolved and in places stricter than England's: species offences can be committed recklessly, not just deliberately. NatureScot is the single regulator, Natura sites carry the strongest protection, and NPF4 requires development to contribute to biodiversity.
You do not have to eradicate invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam from your land in England or Wales, but you must not let them spread into the wild. Moving contaminated soil or plant material off site can be a criminal offence.
Most planning applications in England must deliver at least a 10% gain in biodiversity, maintained for at least 30 years. Your local planning authority will not discharge the planning condition until it has agreed your biodiversity gain plan.
Wildlife law protects birds, bats, newts, badgers and other species whether or not you know they are on your site. In England and Wales the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Habitats Regulations 2017 and the Badgers Act 1992 make harming them an offence, so survey before work on land, buildings or trees.
If work in Scotland could disturb, harm or kill a protected species, or damage a breeding site or resting place, you need a NatureScot species licence first, even with planning permission. Scotland also makes reckless disturbance an offence, so check for protected species before you start.
Before pruning, lopping or felling any tree on your land, check with your local planning authority whether a Tree Preservation Order applies, and apply for consent if one does. Trees in conservation areas need 6 weeks' notice, and damaging a protected tree is a criminal offence.
The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 bans glue traps, replaces snares with regulated cable restraints and will require a NatureScot licence for muirburn, with its provisions commenced in stages. Since 22 July 2024, shooting red grouse has required a licence covering the land.
If guests or staff drink water from your own spring, well or borehole, the council must risk assess and sample it however small it is, and can stop you using it if it is unsafe. You pay its reasonable charges, keep treatment working and act on any failed sample.
How water is regulated in Northern Ireland for two different kinds of business: a mill or other user that takes water from a river, lough or borehole and needs an abstraction and impoundment licence from NIEA, and a water undertaker that supplies drinking water and must meet the 2017 Water Quality Regulations enforced by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
You usually need a Forestry Commission felling licence before felling growing trees in England, unless you fell no more than 5 cubic metres in a calendar quarter or another exemption applies. Felling without one is an offence carrying an unlimited fine since 1 January 2023, and licences can require restocking.
If you own or occupy land in a Site of Special Scientific Interest, you must get written consent from Natural England before carrying out any operation on the site's list. Without a decision in 4 months you can treat it as refused and appeal. Working without consent risks an unlimited fine.
When you need ecological surveys for construction and development projects in Scotland, what types of survey are required, seasonal timing constraints, and how survey results feed into NatureScot licensing and the planning process.
Killing, injuring, taking or disturbing a protected animal or wild bird in Scotland is a crime, whether you do it deliberately or recklessly. The worst offences carry up to 5 years in prison. A licence is the lawful route when your work cannot avoid affecting a protected species.
Beavers in Scotland are a European protected species, so you need a licence before you remove a dam, trap a beaver or take any other action that harms or disturbs one. A licence to prevent serious damage to crops, livestock, timber or property is granted only when nothing less harmful would work.
If you hold or manage shooting rights in Scotland, you can be convicted of a wild bird offence committed by your gamekeeper or agent, even if you took no part in it. Your defence is to show you did not know and took all reasonable steps to prevent it.
If you make 10 or more tonnes of finished plastic packaging components in a 12-month period, you must register with HMRC, file quarterly returns and pay Plastic Packaging Tax. You must also collect and report data on your packaging under extended producer responsibility.
Planning rules for farm renewables depend on the technology and scale: rooftop solar on farm buildings may be permitted development, but ground-mounted solar needs full planning permission and faces closer scrutiny on the best agricultural land. The Feed-in Tariff has closed, so income now comes from savings and Smart Export Guarantee payments.