Agricultural waste management

You must not normally bury animal carcasses or parts of animal carcasses on your farm.

You may only bury animal carcasses in very limited circumstances, for example for emergency disease control or if you are located in areas designated as 'remote areas' in the Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR). The Isles of Scilly and Lundy Island are defined as 'remote areas'.

You must consult with Animal Health or your local council's trading standards department before you bury animal carcasses.

• Animal Health (replaced the State Veterinary Service)
• Contact your local council

If you are authorised to bury carcasses, you must:

• Consult the Environment Agency to discuss the best location for your disposal sites and whether you need a groundwater authorisation.
• Never dispose of carcasses in or near watercourses, boreholes or springs. You may be committing an offence if you allow any polluting matter to enter surface waters or groundwater.
• Keep a written or electronic record of your disposal sites for at least two years.

If you are authorised to bury carcasses, you should take steps to reduce your environmental impact by following these rules:

• burial sites must be at least 250 metres from any well, borehole or spring that supplies drinking water or water for use in a farm dairy
• burial sites must be at least 30 metres from any other well, borehole or spring, and at least 10 metres from any field drain or watercourse
• there must be at least 1 metre of subsoil below the bottom of any burial pit and 1 metre of soil to cover the carcasses
• there is no standing water at the bottom of the hole when you first dig it
• you must not leave pits open or carcasses unburied as dogs, foxes and other scavengers could gain access to them.