Agricultural waste management

Consignment note

The Environment Agency tracks the movement of hazardous waste through a consignment note system. This ensures that waste is managed responsibly from where it is produced until it reaches an authorised recovery or disposal facility. Waste producers must keep a copy of each consignment note for three years.

You have to complete and sign a consignment note for all transfers of hazardous waste, each time it is passed to someone else. You must keep a copy of the consignment note for three years.

Consignee's returns to a producer or holder

The person who received your waste (the consignee) must send you a document called the 'Consignee's returns to a producer or holder' to show that they have received hazardous waste from you. This will tell you what they have done with your waste, for example whether they have incinerated it or transferred it to another site. You should check that all of the loads of waste sent out of your site have been received and managed by matching the consignee return to the consignment notes in your register. You should receive this within four months of the waste leaving your site.

Duty of care

You must make sure that you give your waste to someone who is authorised to take it and can dispose of it in the correct manner at a properly authorised site. Anyone moving hazardous waste from your farm must also be a registered carrier of waste or professional collector. You should ask to see their certificate to prove this. If you don't carry out these checks and your waste is disposed of illegally, you are committing an offence.