Agricultural waste: managing farm waste

All farms will produce waste which if it is to be disposed of, recycled, treated, stored, or used must be done so in accordance with waste regulations.

Some routine agricultural activities involving the management of waste are regulated with waste exemptions, which need to be registered with the Environment Agency (EA) or Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

Defra and the Welsh Government following a consultation in 2018 are reforming the waste exemption scheme within the waste permitting system. Some waste exemptions are likely to be altered and others removed, along with the introduction of charges from April 2024. Currently at the time of writing the changes are dependent on an EA/NRW consultation. For updates about this please see our website: https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/defra-consults-on-waste-crime-and-waste-exemptions/

For information about the consultation outcome see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reducing-crime-at-sites-handling-waste-and-introducing-fixed-penalties-for-waste-duty-of-care/outcome/supplementary-government-response