Guidance

Pollution inventory reporting: using the PIEDC system

Updated 20 December 2023

Applies to England

This guidance explains how to access and use the pollution inventory electronic data capture (PIEDC) system for your pollution inventory return.

In this guidance, the term ‘permission’ is used to mean the environmental regulations under which you operate, and which require you to report to the pollution inventory or UK pollution release and transfer register (UK-PRTR). This includes:

• sites operating under integrated pollution prevention control (IPPC) permits
• sewage treatment works required to report to the pollution inventory under the terms of the Water Industries Act, 1991 Sewerage Undertakers (Pollution Inventory) Direction 2004
• sites authorised to handle radioactive substances
• mines and quarries

This guidance provides information to help you to make an accurate return using the PIEDC system.

The pollution inventory reporting guidance gives general and sector specific advice about pollution inventory and how to complete your return.

What the system is designed to do

The PIEDC system lets you send your annual pollution inventory return directly without the use of paper forms. You can do this either through web forms or by sending an XML file. The system includes validation checks, which are designed to minimise errors in data entry.

You can navigation through the system by selecting menu options in the left-hand column, or those that appear towards the top and bottom of each screen (‘Part 1’, ‘Save’ and so on).

If you submit your pollution inventory return using PIEDC, you do not need to complete or send us a copy of the paper form. If you are unsure if your submission was successful, contact your usual local Environment Agency contact.

Access to the system

You can access the system either:

• through the pollution inventory collection on GOV.UK
• by going directly to the PIEDC website

Our pollution inventory privacy notice explains how your personal information will be used when you submit your pollution inventory report.

System requirements

The system is designed for devices using the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system or higher, and Internet Explorer version 5.5 or higher, with a screen resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels.

The system is functional on Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome web browsers. Other combinations of operating system, browser and screen resolution may function, but cannot be guaranteed.

PIEDC may open in a new window or within your current window depending on the browser you use.

If you have any issues accessing the system, contact your usual local Environment Agency officer or pollution.inventory@environment-agency.gov.uk

System security and passwords

General security features

The system has been designed with data security in mind. Users can access the application only by means of a user ID. This is usually a permission number, and a password supplied by email. Encryption techniques are used to protect data during transmission.

To protect commercial in confidence data, the application will not display such data after submission, preventing access by third parties. The system should not be used for sites with a National Security classification.

Passwords: how to obtain and change them

A password is required for each permission number you are submitting a return for. You must register for each of these separately. When registering a permission number, you must use upper case text and no spaces.

Where you register to use multiple permissions, after the initial full registration, you only need to enter your email address for each subsequent registration. A password will be emailed to you after registering your first permission number. The same password can be used for all subsequent permissions you register.

Passwords can be obtained by selecting the ‘Register your details in order to obtain a password’ option on the ‘Welcome to PIEDC’ screen. You need to provide the required permission number, an email address, and the other information requested. If you have already registered for other permissions, you only need to enter your email address. A password will be sent to the specified email address within a few minutes.

You can change your password by selecting the ‘Password’ function in the left-hand column of the ‘Operator information’ screen. You can change your email address and other contact information by selecting ‘Profile’, also in the left-hand column of this screen. If you change your contact email address, a new password will be generated and sent to that address. This password will supersede the existing password for all permissions registered to the original email address.

Password reminder requests must specify the identical email address to that used for original registration. If your permission number has changed (for example, IPPC permit replacing IPC authorisation) you must register and report against the new permission number.

PIEDC system structure and controls

For most users, the PIEDC system consists of the following screens.

• Home – includes login and password request facilities
• Operator login
• Operator information – includes permission details and status of pollution inventory submissions
• Part 1: operator and site – includes information about the site, the operation and contact details
• Parts 2 to 7: releases and transfers (the numbers refer to the equivalent sections of the paper reporting form) – includes:
  • Air – substances released to air
  • Controlled waters – substances released to controlled waters.
  • Land – substances released to land
  • Wastewater – substances transferred off site in wastewater
  • Waste transfer – wastes transferred off site (excluding wastewater)
  • Overseas waste transfer – waste exported for disposal or recovery
• Summary – details of data entered and ‘Submit’ option

For some permissions, the display may be slightly different. The left-hand menu will change on some screens, so you might not always be able to see all of the options.

Towards the top of most screens there is a set of action and navigation commands. If you make any changes to the data on the screen, you will have to either select ‘Save’ or ‘Cancel’ before you can use the navigation options to move to other screens.

Saving the changes means that the changed data will appear next time you access the screen. Do not confuse this with submitting the data, which can only be done using the ‘Submit’ option on the Summary page.

After a ‘Save’ operation you will be able to return to the data and make further changes.

After a ‘Submit’ operation you will only be able to return to editing the data after asking us to manually change the status of the submission system. See the ‘Completing your return’ section of this guidance.

How to log in

The Welcome screen contains options to log in, to request a password, or be reminded of an existing password. If you select the Login option, you need to provide a valid permission and password combination to proceed.

See the section on ‘Passwords: how to obtain and change them’.

Your permission and related permissions

When you have logged in, you will be able to see data related to the permission number you have used.

Under the Year By Year Data tab you will see a summary of returns and their status held on our pollution inventory database for the permission number used. You can view old returns (status is usually ‘Verified’ or ‘QA Accepted’) by selecting the appropriate word in the table (‘Part 1. Operator and Site’, ‘Parts 2 to 7. Releases and Transfers’, or ‘Summary’).

To enter data for the current reporting year, select the ‘New’ button at the top right-hand side of the screen to create a blank reporting template.

Where some data has been input and saved for the current reporting year, an entry for that year will appear on the left-hand side of the screen with the status ‘Not Received’ against it. When data entry has been completed and you have clicked the ‘Submit’ option, the status of the return will change to ‘Complete’.

The Your Permission Details tab shows additional information relating to the permission in question.

The Your Other Permissions tab shows other permissions belonging to your organisation. If you wish to work on one of these, you can click on ‘Change’ against the permission you would like to edit. This will then become the current permission. Each of your permissions needs to be registered to the same email address to be viewed in this way. You will only need to enter your email address and the permission number in such cases.

Completing your return

Part 1 – about you and your site

Once you proceed to create an annual return (use the Part 1. Operator and Site screen) you will be asked to enter contact details for the person making the return along with general information about the site. Entries made in Part 1 in previous years will appear by default in the new reporting year. These can be overwritten if required.

For some permission types, the information required in Part 1 includes NACE (main economic activity) and NOSE-P (main polluting process) codes. If you do not see an option to do this, it is not required for your return.

Detailed guidance on these codes is available in the pollution inventory reporting codes list. You can open a secondary window within PIEDC, which allows you to browse all of the NACE and NOSE-P codes using a collapsible tree structure. You can select codes from here, or by directly typing them into the form.

If certain media options (for example, releases to Controlled Waters) are not relevant to your site (all such releases are ‘n/a’ - not applicable) ensure these are deselected in the ‘Which parts of the form to fill in’ section. Do not deselect a screen containing an authorised substance, if applicable.

Once the information in the About the Operation tab has been completed you may complete the fields under the Voluntary Information tab and proceed by clicking on the ‘Save’ option at the top of the screen. To move on, click on Parts 2 to 7.

Parts 2 to 7 – your releases and transfers

The Parts 2 to 7 option listed in the left-hand column of the screen covers releases to air, land and controlled waters, and transfers in wastewater and waste (including waste sent overseas).

Selecting any of these options will load the relevant data entry screen. Where an invalid value is entered (for example, misspelling ‘brt’, or non-numeric characters in a numeric field) an error message will pop up and you will be asked to make corrections.

After completing each data entry screen use the ‘Save’ option before proceeding to the next one.

You will be presented with all the standard list of pollution inventory substances that you need to report. For some permission types, you will also see any authorised substances relevant to your permission. For authorised substances you must provide a value, even if this is ‘0’ (‘brt’ and ‘n/a’ are not allowed). Authorised substances are shown with a red flag in the Check column (if you hover over these flags with the cursor help text will appear showing ‘3=Auth’ indicating a check flag has been raised because the substance is authorised). Once a number has been entered and the form has been saved, the red flag disappears.

It is possible to hide substances with a ‘n/a’ designation. To do this, deselect the ‘Show n/a?’ tick box at the bottom of the relevant screen.

Where you enter a figure for a release or transfer, you must enter a ‘Metric unit’ and ‘Method’. If you select method ‘M’ or ‘C’ (for measured or calculated values) a red exclamation mark symbol will appear, indicating that further information is needed. Click on the symbol and select the most appropriate detailed reporting method from the options in the pop-up box which will appear. Once entered, a green tick symbol will appear indicating that a detailed method has been entered.

In the waste transfer screen, you can enter detailed reporting methods by selecting the relevant options under ‘Mass determination method’. You can find European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes for entry in the column headed ‘Insert EWC Codes below’ by clicking on the ‘E’ symbol to the right of the column.

Validation checks and responding to queries

When you click the ‘Save’ option, basic validation checks are run on the data.

A query is indicated by the appearance of a red flag with a number next to it. Hovering your cursor over this flag will bring up some help text, which shows the reason for the query.

The system checks the following for each substance:

• ‘brt’ entered, but a release or transfer was entered in the previous year
• release or transfer low compared with previous year (less than 50%)
• release or transfer high compared with previous year (by more than 50%)
• release or transfer high (by 5 times or more) compared with threshold (only applied when no release or transfer in previous year)
• numerical release or transfer entered is below reporting threshold

To successfully ‘Submit’ a return these queries must be resolved, or some explanatory text must be provided in the Qualification Notes box on the Summary information tab of the Summary screen. For example, where applicable, an operator might write ‘Decrease due to partial closure of plant during the year’. You can compare releases and transfers to previous years using the History (H) buttons on the relevant media screens.

If you would like to only view the substances with an associated query, select the ‘Show Checks Only?’ tick box at the bottom of the relevant screen.

It is not a problem if you enter values below the reporting threshold. These are useful to help us build a more detailed dataset. Some operators have a permit condition which requires them to enter this information.

Saving and submitting

You will need to save your work after you complete every section of the form. You cannot leave some sections until you ‘Save’ or ‘Cancel’ the data entered (for example, the Part 1. Operator and Site Details screen). Once this is saved you can log off without completing further sections of the form. You can log back into the system later to complete your return.

At the top of the Summary screen there is a ‘Submit’ option, which allows final submission of the return. Only use this once you are happy with the data on your form. If there are any outstanding queries, and you have not entered explanatory text in the Qualification Notes box, you will not be able to submit the form.

You must submit the form for us to receive the data.

Once this has been done, and the return has been accepted, the status will change to ‘Complete’. At this point, you cannot make any further changes. If you do need to change something at this stage, you must contact us. We can reset the status of your return so that it will again be available for you to work on. Resetting the status does not reset your data - the data you have entered will remain.

If you have connectivity issues

Tips for saving data if you have a slow internet connection:

• some of the completed forms are generally slow to save and reload for all users, particularly the air releases screen
• save and submit returns early in the morning when there is typically less internet traffic (this may vary by region and your internet service provider)
• select only the relevant media options in Part 1 of the form (in ‘Which parts of the form to fill in’), then fill in each of the media screens and save each one before proceeding to the next
• reduce the number of error messages and queries after saving by ensuring you fill in a release, metric unit, measurement type and, where required, detailed method for each relevant substance
• where authorised substances exist for your permit, values must be entered for these, even if 0 (zero)

Quality assurance, status changes and editing data after submission

If you work on a submission over several sessions, you will find that the status shown next to your permission number will change. Initially this will be ‘Not Received’. After you have made and saved some changes (but not submitted the return) the status will remain as ‘Not Received’.

After selecting ‘Submit’ the permission status will change to ‘Complete’. At this point your submission can be viewed but not edited. If you do need to edit following submission, you can contact us (your normal Environment Agency contact in our local office) and ask for the status to be changed back to ‘Not Received’. It will then be available for editing again. We strongly recommend that you check your data when you first submit to reduce additional work for you and our teams.

We carry out quality assurance of all data. This is more detailed than the check flags built into PIEDC. If we have questions about your data, we will contact you about it. If you find an error, you will need to change your data. To enable you to do this, we will change the status back to ‘Not Received’.

When you have finished making changes, you must ‘Submit’ your return again. You can check if this was successful because the status will change to ‘Complete’ and you will not be able to make any more changes.

Following submission, further status changes may take place. Our staff will set the status to ‘Verified’ after they are satisfied that all data appears to be correct. At this point, changes can only be made if we reset the status back to ‘Not Received’ as described above.

Submitting commercially confidential data

If you judge some or all of your data to be commercial in confidence (‘CiC’) you must select the ‘Yes’ tick box next to the ‘Some or all of the information is commercially confidential’ text on the Part 1. Operator and Site screen.

CiC can be claimed on emissions to wastewater and waste transfers. You cannot claim CiC on emissions to air or controlled water.

You must provide justification for this in the associated text box and send evidence separately to your local Environment Agency officer. All claims are subject to approval.

If the ‘CiC’ option is selected, ‘C in C’ boxes will appear on the Parts 2 to 7. Releases and Transfers screens. You must select the box next to each substance for which you are claiming commercial confidentiality and have entered a release value.

Having selected these substances and saving the changes, you can view them as a group by selecting the ‘Show CiC Only?’ option at the bottom of each Parts 2 to 7. Releases and Transfers screen.

To prevent third parties accessing sensitive data, it is not possible to view or print reports of CiC data after submission. If you try to view such data, you will encounter a no entry sign. As such, we recommend that you save a report before submitting. To make changes to such data after submission, contact your local Environment Agency contact or office.

XML file upload

For users with WIA permissions

For WIA permissions, the UKWIR and Environment Agency’s pollution inventory estimator tool produces an XML output file for each works specified. It can also produce a single XML file containing information on all of your works.

To use this application successfully it is critical that the ‘Consent No’ for each works specified in the ‘WWTW’ screen of the estimator is identical to that registered in the PIEDC system. You can check this with us before attempting the upload.

To submit these files, log into the PIEDC system using the permission number for a given works and select the ‘Upload’ option in the top left-hand margin of the Operator Information screen. Then ‘Browse’ to the required file and select the ‘Upload’ button. The file populates the web screens described previously and you can then view and edit the submitted information in the web interface before selecting ‘Submit’ in the normal way.

When you upload an XML file, it is checked against the schema definition file and accepted unless problems are encountered. If there are issues with the data, an appropriate error message appears.

You can deal with any queries raised by navigating to the Summary Information tab of the Summary screen (through the ‘Operator’ option in the top left-hand margin of the Uploads screen for each permission). You must address any queries before submitting each file.

For all other permission types

If you have experience of XML you may prefer to upload data using XML files. By selecting the ‘Upload’ option in the left-hand column of the Operator Information screen, you can ‘Browse’ to and ‘Upload’ an XML file. You can then view and edit the submitted information in the PIEDC interface before selecting ‘Submit’ in the normal way.

The XML file submitted needs to be in the required format or it will be rejected. It should be checked against the schema that can be downloaded from the PIEDC application. To download this schema select the ‘Download’ option from the left-hand column of the Operator Information screen and then select the ‘Schema ([year])’ option at the bottom of the screen.

You may also need an XML template on which to build your submitted XML file. If you wish to download this for the current reporting year you will need to create a blank reporting form using the ‘New’ option on the bottom of the right-hand screen in the Operator Information screen (unless such a form has already been created). To download the XML template, select the required year in the Downloads screen and whether you wish to obtain a template for all your company permissions or the active permission, then select ‘Download’.

When you upload an XML file, it is checked against the schema definition file and accepted unless problems are encountered. If there are problems with the file, appropriate error messages appear. For multiple-permission XML files, this process should be carried out for each uploaded permission.

You will need to look at any validation queries before submitting the file (see the section on ‘Validation checks and responding to queries’). To do this, navigate to the Summary Information tab of the Summary screen. You can find this through the Operator option in the top left-hand side of the Upload screen.

XML files can be edited with standard packages such as XML Spy or simple text editors. It is important that the file format is exactly as required and is saved as a text file.

Saving and printing copies of your pollution inventory return

Select ‘Report’ from the top left of the Operator Information screen or (after submission) from the green ‘Report’ option under the ‘Qualifications Notes’ box on the Summary Information tab of the Summary screen.