As of 1st July 2025, the Environment Agency (EA) has introduced new charges for waste exemptions in England. These updates affect any farmer who registers waste exemptions, whether for routine farm activities like spreading waste on land or for less common waste treatments.
What’s changing?
Waste exemptions must now be paid for and re-registered every three years. The charges for most farms using only the common on-farm exemptions are:
- £56 registration fee (applicable to all, every three years)
- £88 common on-farm waste exemptions charge (required every three years)
This totals £144 for a three-year registration period.
In addition to these charges, the EA will now adopt a more risk-based approach to compliance monitoring, which may involve on-site visits or inspections for certain activities.
The common on-farm exemptions
The EA recognises that many farming activities pose relatively low environmental risk. Farmers can register the following 17 ‘common on-farm’ exemptions at the reduced £88 rate:
Code | Activity |
U1 | Using suitable waste in construction (e.g., farm tracks) |
U4 | Burning untreated plant material or wood in a small appliance |
U8 | Using waste materials for a specific purpose (e.g., soil improvement) |
U10 | Spreading waste to benefit agricultural land (e.g., replacing fertiliser) |
U12 | Spreading mulch around plants and trees |
U13 | Spreading cut plant matter for soil benefits or weed suppression |
U14 | Mixing ash into soil to recycle nutrients |
U15 | Spreading pig/poultry ash with manure or slurry |
D1 | Depositing dredged material on riverbanks |
D3 | Burial of waste from portable toilets |
D4 | Depositing diseased crops under Plant Health Notice |
D6 | Incinerating small amounts of waste produced on site |
D7 | Open burning of plant tissue or wood |
T1 | Cleaning/processing waste packaging for reuse |
T23 | Composting small volumes of farm waste for land application |
T29 | Filtering non-hazardous pesticide washings (carbon filtration) |
T32 | Treating pesticide washings in a biobed or biofilter |
The EA has also published an update to its ‘Register your waste exemptions’ digital service, which allows users to edit their existing registrations without the need to contact the NCCC (national customer contact centre). The new functionality includes the ability to:
- De-register existing waste exemptions
- Update your email address
- Update your mobile phone number
- Update your contact name
What if you need other exemptions?
If your farming activities fall outside the ‘common on-farm’ list, you will need to pay a compliance charge for each applicable exemption. The cost depends on the band the exemption falls into.
There are four bands:
- Upper band – £1,236 (applies only to T8, T9, and U16 exemptions)
- Band 1 – £420
- Band 2 – £212
- Band 3 – £30
The compliance charge covers the Environment Agency’s costs for ensuring exemption conditions are being met. Discounts are available when multiple exemptions are registered together.
Do I need to take action?
These changes apply to anyone carrying out activities under waste exemptions. It’s essential that those holding exemptions review their exemptions against the guidance to ensure they can still operate legally without needing a permit.
The changes include updates to waste codes and descriptions, limits on the volume of waste managed at sites with multiple exemptions, and the removal or amendment of certain exemptions.
Farmers should check whether they still need each exemption, and if so, confirm they meet the revised conditions. If not, they may need to adjust their operations, apply for a permit, or cease the activity altogether.
Help & advice
Please note that all CXCS clients will be contacted one month before their waste exemptions are due to expire, to review their requirements and explain the new fees.
If you would like to review your waste exemptions or discuss how the new rules might affect your farm, please call our Agricultural Compliance team on 01981 590514.