Agricultural Waste Rules: What UK Farms Must Record

Farms produce a wider mix of waste than most small businesses: bale wrap and silage sheeting, empty feed and fertiliser bags, pesticide containers, old oil, redundant machinery parts, asbestos cement roofs on tired sheds, and the ordinary rubbish from a farm office or yard. The rules that cover it sit in an odd place. Agricultural waste has its own treatment in the law, and many farmers assume that means they have no paperwork to do. That assumption is only partly right.

This guide is written for farms in England and Wales, and for the contractors and carriers who work for them. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own versions of these rules, so check with SEPA or NIEA if you farm there.

What Counts as Agricultural Waste

Agricultural waste is waste from premises used for agriculture, such as a farm, a market garden, or a nursery growing plants for sale. It includes things that come directly out of farming activity: plastic wrap and sheeting, empty packaging, spent chemicals, worn-out equipment, and tyres from farm vehicles.

The label matters because of how the duty of care is built. Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 applies to controlled waste, which means household, commercial and industrial waste. Agricultural waste is not controlled waste in that sense, so the standard waste transfer note requirement does not apply to it in the same way. That is the reason farm waste is described as separately regulated.

It does not follow that anything goes. Since the mid-2000s, farms have been subject to the same waste controls as other businesses on the big issues: no open burning or burying of waste without authorisation, no dumping, and no handing waste to someone who is not allowed to take it. The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 also apply to farms, including the requirement to apply the waste hierarchy (prevent, reuse, recycle, recover, then dispose).

Farm Plastics: Wrap, Sheeting and Bags

Plastic is the largest visible waste stream on most livestock and arable holdings. Silage wrap, bale net, polytunnel film, crop covers, and feed and seed bags all pile up over a season, and they are often soiled with soil, silage juice and feed.

Burning plastic in the open was once routine on farms. It is now not allowed without a registered exemption, and plastic is not covered by the exemption that allows burning of certain plant waste. Burying it on the farm is equally off the table. Both are treated as unauthorised disposal, and the Environment Agency (or Natural Resources Wales) can prosecute.

What works in practice:

• Shake out and keep it as clean as you can. Heavily contaminated wrap is difficult to recycle and some collectors will refuse it or charge more.
• Separate by type. Silage wrap, bale net, rigid plastic and feed bags tend to go to different recyclers, and mixed loads attract mixed-load prices.
• Store it under cover or in a dedicated bay away from watercourses, field drains and boundaries, so it does not blow around or contaminate the next load.
• Use a collection scheme or contractor that gives you paperwork. Many agricultural merchants and recyclers run farm plastic collections, but you still need to confirm who is carrying it and where it ends up.

Fees, bale-count minimums and collection days vary by supplier, so we have not quoted prices here. Ask for the price per tonne and what condition the plastic must be in before you book.

Chemicals, Pesticide Containers and Veterinary Waste

This is where farms most often slip into hazardous waste territory without noticing.

Pesticide and sheep dip containers

Empty pesticide containers should be rinsed as soon as they are emptied, with the rinsings going into the sprayer tank. Properly rinsed containers can usually be handled as ordinary non-hazardous plastic waste by a suitable collector. Containers that have not been rinsed still contain residue, and the contents are likely to make them hazardous waste. Leftover product, spent sheep dip and out-of-date chemicals are hazardous and need a consignment note.

Never pour chemical waste or rinsings onto the ground or into drains and ditches. Pollution of a watercourse is a separate offence from any paperwork failure, and the Environment Agency treats it seriously.

Veterinary medicines and sharps

Waste medicines and needles from livestock treatment should go back through your vet or an authorised collector. Do not put them in general waste or the skip. Sharps in particular need a rigid, labelled container. Ask your vet practice what take-back arrangements they offer.

Oil, batteries and workshop waste

Used engine and hydraulic oil, oil filters, lead-acid batteries and contaminated rags from the farm workshop are hazardous. They need the same treatment as a garage would give them: stored in a bunded or drip-protected area, and collected by a carrier authorised for hazardous waste. Our guide to hazardous waste regulations in the UK explains how classification and consignment notes work.

Asbestos Roofs, Old Buildings and Tyres

Many farms still have corrugated cement sheeting from the era when asbestos was widely used in agricultural buildings. Asbestos cement is hazardous waste. If you are replacing a roof or demolishing a shed, get a survey, use a contractor who knows what they are doing, and make sure the waste goes to a site permitted to take it. Do not break sheets up, and do not bury them on the farm. The practical rules are covered in our article on asbestos waste disposal.

Tyres are the other perennial. Tractor and trailer tyres are waste once you no longer intend to use them for their original purpose, and a stack of discarded tyres is not a recycling plan. Storage of large numbers of waste tyres can itself need a permit or exemption. The rules for disposal and who can take them are in tyre waste disposal rules.

Fallen Stock, Manure and Slurry

Dead livestock is not handled under the ordinary waste regime at all. It is governed by animal by-products rules, which in England are enforced under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 and equivalent Welsh legislation. In general, fallen stock must go to an approved collector, knacker or hunt kennel, and on-farm burial is not permitted except in very limited circumstances. Check the APHA and Defra guidance for the current position.

Manure and slurry used as fertiliser on your own land are generally not regarded as waste, but they are controlled by other regulations. In particular, the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone rules and the Farming Rules for Water set limits on when, where and how much you can spread, and how you must store it. Spreading material from other businesses on your land is different again: that is waste, and you or the supplier will need a permit or a registered exemption. The exemption for spreading waste on agricultural land to benefit crops has strict conditions on the type of waste, the application rate, and soil testing, so read the conditions before you accept anything.

If you are not certain whether a particular material counts as waste, ask the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales before you take delivery, not after. For more on registering exemptions, see our guide to waste exemptions.

What a Farm Should Record

You are not required to keep a waste transfer note for purely agricultural waste, but that does not mean you should keep nothing. A sensible farm waste file contains:

• Consignment notes for any hazardous waste, which must be kept for at least three years.
• Receipts, invoices or collection records for plastic, tyres, scrap and other farm waste, showing the date, the carrier, the type of waste and where it was taken.
• The registration number of any carrier you use, checked on the public register before they load.
• Copies of any waste exemption registrations you hold, with their expiry dates.
• Pesticide and veterinary medicine disposal records, which also tend to be asked for during farm assurance inspections and by some buyers.

If you are ever asked how a load of waste left your holding, an evidence trail of this kind answers the question. It also protects you if the carrier you used turns out to have fly-tipped it.

Diversification: Where Commercial Waste Rules Apply

Many farms now run other businesses on the same site: a farm shop, a café, holiday lets, a campsite, an events barn, or a workshop that rents units to local trades. Waste from those activities is commercial waste, not agricultural waste, and the full duty of care applies to it. That means a waste transfer note for each transfer or a season ticket for regular collections, a registered carrier, an accurate waste description and EWC code, and two years of records.

Keep the streams apart. Farm waste and commercial waste from the café should not end up in the same skip, because the paperwork for the two is different. Our guide to waste transfer notes sets out what the commercial side needs.

Using Carriers and Moving Waste Yourself

A farmer carrying their own agricultural waste is generally exempt from having to register as a waste carrier, but check the current gov.uk guidance because the exemption has limits. If you carry anyone else's waste, including waste from a neighbour or from your diversified business, that exemption does not help you.

When a contractor, merchant or skip firm takes waste from the farm, check their carrier registration on the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales public register. Registration is free to search, takes a minute, and is the quickest way to avoid problems with rogue operators. Farms have been a favourite target for people offering cheap clearances who then dump the load in a gateway.

A Short Checklist

1. Walk the farm and list every waste stream, noting which are hazardous.
2. Stop any burning or burying that is not covered by a registered exemption.
3. Set up a covered, labelled storage area for plastics and for hazardous items.
4. Choose carriers and recyclers you have checked, and keep their paperwork.
5. Use consignment notes for hazardous waste and transfer notes for commercial waste from diversified activities.
6. Review the list once a year, and whenever you start a new enterprise on the farm.