Waste reduction, recycling, reuse and recovery

What you must do

Businesses that treat, recycle and recover your waste must be authorised to do so. You can find out whether a business is authorised by checking the public register or contacting your environmental regulator.

England, Scotland and Wales: public registers

Northern Ireland: public registers

Contact your environmental regulator

If you burn waste oil or recovered fuel oil as a fuel you may need a Pollution Prevention and Control permit. Discuss your proposals with your environmental regulator before you carry out any such operations. For further information, read the NetRegs guidance on waste incineration.

Waste incineration

Good practice

  • Where possible, recycle used oils. For further information, see Pollution Prevention Guideline (PPG) 8.

PPG 8 Safe storage and disposal of used oils (Adobe PDF - 76KB)

  • Many chemicals are very polluting to the water environment. Minimise the amount of chemicals you use to reduce your business’s impact on the environment. You could also save money as you will buy fewer chemicals and pay less for the disposal of the waste after their use.
  • Minimise the amount of waste that your business produces. Consider alternatives to the disposal of waste. For example, waste lubricating oil can be recycled by a licensed contractor.
  • Reduce your storage requirements by using one-for-one battery or tyre exchange schemes. These collect old batteries and tyres when new ones are delivered.

End-of-life vehicles and waste tyres

  • Segregate your waste to enable recycling and to reduce your waste management costs.
  • Read the Envirowise guides on the management of waste, solvents, and lubricating and hydraulic fluids.

Envirowise

  • When motors, drives and pumps need to be replaced, use energy efficient alternatives. For more information, see the NetRegs guidance on energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency