Green Waste Rules for Landscapers and Gardeners (UK)

Most gardeners and landscapers think of green waste as the easy end of the waste business: grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, a few barrow loads of soil. It is, until a customer asks where it went, a tip refuses the van because it is not a household visit, or an inspector asks to see the paperwork. Once you are a business taking waste away from other people's gardens, the same duty of care rules apply as for any carrier. This guide covers when you need to register, what counts as green waste, where it can legally go, and what paperwork to keep.

Green waste from a customer's garden is controlled waste

Garden waste from a home is household waste when the householder deals with it themselves. When a business takes it away as part of a paid job, it is controlled waste moving through a commercial chain, and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 duty of care applies to everyone in that chain. That means the waste must be stored safely, passed only to an authorised person, described accurately in writing, and recorded.

It also means the tip that is perfectly fine for the customer's own car boot is often closed to you. Many council household waste recycling centres do not accept trade waste, and where they do they may charge or ask for evidence of where the waste came from. Check the site's rules before you load.

Do you need to register as a waste carrier?

Most professional gardeners and landscapers who take waste away from customers' properties need to be registered as waste carriers in England. The reasons are straightforward. Waste from a customer's garden is the customer's waste in the first instance, and carrying it for hire is carrying someone else's waste. Hard landscaping waste, such as broken paving, rubble, old concrete bases, fencing and sheds, is construction and demolition waste, and the person who produces and carries it still needs to be registered.

There is some uncertainty at the edge, for example for a gardener who only ever carries trimmings from their own premises. Rather than rely on an interpretation, check the current Environment Agency guidance on who must register, and if your work involves taking waste off customers' sites, assume you do. The difference between the two kinds of registration is explained in our guide to upper tier and lower tier waste carriers. Registration has been free at the lower tier in England, but fees and renewal rules change, so check gov.uk for the current position. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, registration is run by NRW, SEPA and NIEA respectively.

Keep a copy of your registration in the vehicle, and check the registration of anyone you hand waste to, such as a skip firm collecting a garden waste skip.

What counts as green waste, and what does not

Clean green waste is biodegradable plant material from gardens and parks: grass cuttings, leaves, hedge and shrub trimmings, prunings, small branches and weeds. The moment it picks up other material, it stops being simple. The table gives common examples with typical List of Wastes codes. The receiving site will confirm which code it wants on the note.

Mixed loads are the main reason green waste is rejected. A composting site wants plant material with no plastic, no soil and no timber that has been painted or treated. Two flower pots and a roll of weed fabric can turn a good load into a contaminated one, and a driver at the weighbridge will notice. If you are keeping soil, stones and rubble separate from the green waste at the customer's property, say so on the transfer note. See our guide to the disposal of Japanese knotweed and other invasive plants for the main exception to everything above: invasive plants must never go in with ordinary green waste.

Where green waste can go

The receiving site must hold a permit or a registered exemption for the activity it carries out. Typical routes are:

• Permitted composting sites and anaerobic digestion plants. They hold an environmental permit to accept garden and green waste and will want clean plant material.
• Sites operating under a composting exemption. Smaller operators may compost under the T23 exemption, which has quantity limits and conditions. Ask for their exemption reference.
• Waste transfer stations that accept green waste and send it on for composting or recovery.
• Landfill for contaminated loads, although this is the most expensive route and the one to avoid.

Before first delivery, check the site's permit or exemption on the public register and ask what it accepts. The principles for checking exemption conditions are in our guide to waste exemptions.

Burning, chipping and composting your own

Some landscapers take their arisings back to a yard and try to process them there. That turns the yard into a waste site, and it needs either a permit or a registered exemption.

• Chipping and shredding. An exemption (T6) exists for treating waste wood and plant matter by chipping, shredding or cutting, with quantity conditions. Treated, painted or contaminated wood is not covered.
• Composting. Composting other people's green waste needs a permit or an exemption such as T23, and the conditions on quantities and siting are strict.
• Burning. Open burning of waste is tightly controlled. An exemption (D7) covers burning certain plant waste at the place it was produced, subject to limits, and it does not cover burning waste brought from customers' properties. Smoke can also be a statutory nuisance, and it may be restricted in smoke control areas. Check the current conditions on gov.uk before relying on it.

Selling wood chip or compost as a product can have its own requirements, so ask the Environment Agency before you start rather than after a complaint.

Paperwork: notes, season tickets and job records

Each load handed to a carrier, tip or composting site needs a waste transfer note, covering the description, the EWC code, quantity, date, the carrier's details and the site's permit or exemption. If you take a regular weekly load to the same composter, a season ticket can cover all of them for up to twelve months, provided the material, parties and arrangement stay the same.

For work on customers' sites, record where each load came from. A simple job sheet or invoice line is enough, for example: Green waste removed from [address], taken to [site], transfer note ref [number]. If the customer later asks where their waste went, or a fly-tipped load is traced back to your van, that record is what protects you. Keep transfer notes for at least two years.

Hazards that turn up in gardens

A garden clearance can throw up waste that has nothing to do with plants. Pesticide, herbicide and fuel containers, oily rags, batteries from tools and mowers, treated fence posts and railway sleepers, and asbestos cement sheets from old sheds or garage roofs are all hazardous, or potentially hazardous, waste that must not go into the green waste load. Hazardous waste needs separate handling and a consignment note under the hazardous waste regulations. If you think you have found asbestos, stop work and take advice.

The wider picture

The Simpler Recycling reforms in England mostly affect household and workplace collections of recyclables and food waste. They do not change what you have to document when you carry green waste as a business, so the carrier registration, duty of care and record-keeping rules above stay the same.