Guidance

T29 waste exemption: treatment of non-hazardous pesticide washings by carbon filtration for disposal

The T29 exemption allows you to treat non-hazardous pesticide washings before disposing of them to land.

Applies to England

Pesticide washings treated this way are less likely to damage the environment when discharged to land, compared to untreated pesticide washings.

Types of activity you can carry out

You can use a sealed carbon filtration unit, such as a sentinel unit, to treat surplus spray and pesticide washings produced on the farm or in landscaping or other uses.

Types of activity you cannot carry out

You cannot:

  • import pesticide washings from other places or farms to treat in your plant
  • treat hazardous pesticide washings

Types of waste you can treat

The waste codes are those listed in the List of Wastes (LoW) Regulations. You need to make sure your waste fits within the relevant waste code and description.

Waste code Type of waste
020109, 160509 Non-hazardous pesticide washings only

Quantity of waste you can treat

You can store or treat up to 8,000 litres of waste over any 24-hour period.

Key conditions

You must:

  • treat and store waste in the same place that the pesticides were used
  • carry out treatment of the pesticide washings in a sealed unit with sealed drainage

Other things you need to know

You must make sure that during treatment and storage, no pesticide washings (treated or untreated) can get into drains, watercourses or onto land and cause pollution.

You can also treat dilute pesticide washings in a biobed or biofilter under T32 – treatment of waste in a biobed or biofilter.

Register this exemption

You need to register this exemption with us if you meet the requirements.

If you want to dispose of the treated pesticides by discharging them to land, you will need to apply for an environmental permit.

Definitions

Hazardous waste – see How to classify different types of waste.

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

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

Updates to this page

Published 28 April 2014

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