Guidance

Waste exemption: NWFD 4 temporary storage at a collection point

This exemption allows you to temporarily store waste at a collection point before recovering or disposing of the waste elsewhere.

• From: Environment Agency
• Published: 28 April 2014
• Last updated: 30 November 2023 — See all updates

There are some exemptions which do not need to be registered. These are called Non Waste Framework Directive (NWFD) exemptions.

For example:

• a pharmacy which takes back and stores out of date medicines returned by patients or operates a needle exchange scheme
• a shop which provides a container for customers to deposit waste batteries
• a shop which provides a take back arrangement for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Types of activity you can carry out

You can:

• only collect and store waste in a secure container at a collection point
• carry out some treatments on the waste to help with storage and collection

These treatments are only to make waste you have produced easier to store and collect for recovery or disposal somewhere else.

The treatments must not result in a change in the characteristics of the waste. Treatment must only be to help with transport of collection of different wastes, such as:

• compacting paper and cardboard if it increases the amount of waste that can be stored within a container
• shredding confidential papers for security purposes
• separating recyclables such as paper, card, plastic and glass from mixed wastes into separate containers

Types of activity you cannot carry out

You cannot:

• collect waste as your main business activity
• receive payment for collecting the waste

If you store more than one type of waste, the different types must not be mixed.

Types of waste you can store

You can store any waste that does not contain or consist of:

• asbestos
• any substance that has a flash point of less than 21°C

Quantity of waste you can store

At any one time you can store up to:

• 30 cubic metres of WEEE
• 50 cubic metres of non-hazardous waste that is not WEEE that will be recovered elsewhere
• 5 cubic metres of waste, other than those mentioned

Main conditions

You can only store waste temporarily, generally no longer than 3 months.

Definitions

Collection: gathering waste, including preliminary sorting and storage of waste to transport it to a waste treatment facility.

Collection point: a place used for collecting waste where the organisation collecting the waste does not receive payment for collecting the waste or collect waste as its main business activity.

Impermeable surface: a surface or pavement constructed and maintained to a standard sufficient to prevent the transmission of liquids beyond the surface.

Place of production: where the waste was originally produced.

Sealed drainage: a drainage system with an impermeable surface that makes sure that:

• no liquid will run off the surface other than from the system
• except where they may be lawfully discharged, all liquids entering the system are collected in a sealed sump

Secondary containment: a bund or any other system for preventing waste that has leaked from its main container from escaping from the place where it’s stored or treated.

Secure: a container, lagoon or other place is secure in relation to waste kept in it if:

• all reasonable precautions are taken to make sure the waste cannot escape
• members of the public cannot gain access to the waste

Published 28 April 2014
Last updated 30 November 2023 + show all updates

1. 30 November 2023

   Updated the 'Types of activity you cannot carry out' section to say that, if you store more than one type of waste, the different types must not be mixed.

2. 28 April 2014

   First published.