Environmental permitting applies to England and Wales only.
If you operate your business in Northern Ireland or Scotland, see our guidance on pollution prevention and control and waste management licensing.
Pollution prevention and control permits
Waste management licensing
You must have an environmental permit if you operate a regulated facility, including:
- installations or mobile plant carrying out part A(1), A(2) and B activities
- waste operations
- waste mobile plant
- mining waste operations.
You can be fined or sent to prison if you operate a regulated facility without an environmental permit.
What is an installation or mobile plant?
An installation is a stationary technical unit used for listed activities, such as a self-contained building, permanent structure or fixed plant.
Mobile plant is plant that can be moved and is used for listed activities.
Listed activities include:
- energy: burning fuel, gasification, liquification and refining activities
- metals: manufacturing and processing metals
- minerals: manufacturing lime, cement, ceramics or glass
- chemicals: manufacturing chemicals, pharmaceuticals or explosives, storing chemicals in bulk
- waste: incinerating waste, operating landfills, recovering waste
- solvents: using solvents
- other: manufacturing paper, pulp and board, treating timber products, coating, treating textiles and printing, manufacturing new tyres, intensive pig and poultry farming.
Listed activities are split into three categories - part A(1), part A(2) and part B:
- Part A permits control activities with a range of environmental impacts, including:
- emissions to air, land and water
- energy efficiency
- waste reduction
- raw materials consumption
- noise, vibration and heat
- accident prevention.
- Part B permits control activities which cause emissions to air.
What is a waste operation or waste mobile plant?
Waste operations are waste disposal or recovery activities that are not listed activities or exempt waste operations. For further information on exempt waste operations, see our guidance on whether you need an exemption from environmental permitting.
Do you need to register an exemption from environmental permitting?
Waste operations may include waste transfer stations or scrap metal sites.
Waste mobile plant is mobile plant used for waste operations.
What is a mining waste operation?
A mining waste operation is anything you do that involves managing extractive waste, including handling, storing, treating and disposing of extractive waste. A mining waste operation may or may not involve a mining waste facility, such as a spoil heap, tailings pond or dam.
Extractive waste is solid or liquid waste that comes directly from prospecting, extracting, treating and storing minerals and the working of quarries, including:
- waste rock and overburden removed during extraction
- tailings, such as waste solids and slurries
- inert waste and unpolluted soil
- waste from the peat industry.
Not all excavation material produced during mineral extraction is waste. The Environment Agency is working with industry to develop a step-by-step procedure for operators to determine whether the materials they are managing are extractive waste.
Environment Agency: Do you require an environmental permit?
The Environment Agency has also produced regulatory position statements for mining waste, including statements on:
- the transition period if your mining waste operation started between 1 May 2008 and 7 July 2009
- waste arising from peat workings and prospecting for mineral resources.
For further information on regulatory position statements, see our guidance on exemptions from environmental permitting.
Do you need to register an exemption from environmental permitting?
Defra and the Environment Agency are consulting on guidance for mining waste.
Defra: Environmental Permitting Guidance - the mining waste directive (Adobe PDF - 636KB)
Environment Agency: How to comply with your environmental permit – additional guidance for mining waste operations
Further information on environmental permits and the requirements for mining waste operations including mining waste facilities will be available in our guidance on mining and quarrying shortly.
Mining and quarrying
Animal by-products
If you collect, transport, store, handle, process or dispose of animal by-products or catering waste which are not intended for human consumption, you must meet any additional requirements.
Animal by-products and food waste
In this guideline:
What is an environmental permit?
Do you need an environmental permit?
Do you need to register an exemption from environmental permitting?
How do you apply for an environmental permit?
What you must do if you hold an environmental permit
How do you change, transfer or cancel your environmental permit?
Environmental permitting further information
Environmental permitting legislation
