Agricultural waste management

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What if I want to send my waste to a landfill site?

Banned wastes: You can not send whole and shredded used tyres to landfill, unless they are bicycle tyres, or tyres with an outside diameter greater than 1.4 metres. You can not send liquid wastes to landfill. Liquids may be present in small amounts in a generally solid waste, for example cartons of milk or juice in mixed commercial waste. This is acceptable provided the free-draining liquid does not exceed 250 litres or 10% of the load volume, whichever is the lesser amount.

Treating non-hazardous wastes for landfill

You must make sure that all waste is treated before it is sent to landfill. Treatment can be physical, eg sorting, thermal, eg heat disinfection, chemical, eg neutralisation, biological, eg composting.

The treatment must change the characteristics of the waste by reducing its volume (but not compaction, reducing its hazardous nature, making it easier to handle, enhancing its recovery.

It is likely that you are already treating your wastes under one of the exemptions you have registered. For example you may separate your green waste and compost it before spreading it to fields as a fertiliser, re-use rubble from your farm buildings to improve muddy gateways, store your waste oil separately for recycling, separate and store metals for recycling, bale waste plastic silage wrap for recycling.

If you take your waste directly to a landfill site you will need to be able to show that you have treated the waste to separate the parts that can be recycled. If you use a waste management contractor to handle your waste then you need to find out if they will treat it before they send it to landfill. Ask them to declare in writing how they treat your waste.

However you treat your waste, it is a good idea to produce a written declaration. This should state who has treated the waste, the type of treatment that has occurred (if any), the amount of waste that has been sorted out for recovery or alternative treatment (if relevant). Include the declaration with your waste transfer note and keep a copy with your waste transfer records. You need to keep copies of your transfer notes for a minimum of two years and your consignment notes for a minimum of three.