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Treatment and disposal of hazardous waste

How to treat or dispose of hazardous waste.

Waste hierarchy

You should aim to prevent the production of hazardous waste as this is likely to be the best overall environmental option. This principle is set out by the waste hierarchy, which currently a requirement for all IPPC installations but will apply to everyone else from 28 September. You must consider this before hazardous waste is moved:

Mixing

Your hazardous waste must not be mixed or diluted with other hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste or anything else, unless you have an appropriate permit and this activity complies with best available techniques (BAT). In the absence of a permit, you must separate hazardous waste that has been mixed where possible. Defra has produced a document that explains these rules in more detail:

Treatment

If your waste is to be sent for treatment, it is your responsibility to make sure the site you send it to is permitted to receive it.

Further information on the types of waste treatment available and how it is controlled, can be found on our IPPC Waste Treatment and Storage pages:

Landfill

If you want to dispose of hazardous waste by landfilling it then you need to ensure that the waste will:

  • go to the correctly authorised site for treatment and disposal
  • meet the Landfill Directive requirements and the landfill permit conditions

The wastes must be treated before disposal at a landfill. This pre-treatment requirement is defined in the Landfill Directive.

You must characterise the waste to check that it will meet the waste acceptance criteria. These tests and criteria are defined in the Landfill Directive. There are rigorous procedures in place if your waste fails to meet the landfill waste acceptance criteria and we agree that alternative recovery and disposal routes are not available.

Further information on all of these Landfill Directive requirements can be found on our landfill sector pages:

You can download a list of landfill sites permitted to accept hazardous waste and gypsum: