Burning waste

You must have the correct permissions in place before you burn waste. If you burn waste as a fuel or for disposal you may need a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit or waste management licence from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) or your district council. However, depending on the type and quantity of waste that you burn, and your method of burning, you may qualify for an exemption from waste management licensing.

Waste exemptions are for specific low risk waste activities and so have fewer controls placed on them compared with permits and licences. You may need to register waste exemptions with NIEA.

If you have a waste exemption, you must comply with all of the exemption conditions. You must also ensure that your activity does not:

• endanger human health or risk harm to water, air or soil
• risk harm to plants or animals
• cause a noise or odour nuisance
• adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest

Exemption for burning waste in the open

You may qualify for an exemption to burn certain plant tissue and untreated wood in the open if:

• you burn the waste at the place where it was produced
• you burn no more than 10 tonnes in a 24-hour period

See controls on burning waste in the open.

Exemption for burning waste in an incinerator

You may qualify for an exemption to burn certain plant tissue and untreated wood in an incinerator or a waste combustion plant, if:

• you burn the waste at the place where it was produced
• the incinerator has a capacity of less than 50 kilograms per hour
• the waste combustion plant has a total net rated thermal input of less than 0.3 megawatts

This is a paragraph 29 exemption - find more information on paragraph 29 exemptions for burning waste in an incinerator.

Exemption for burning waste in a small appliance

You may qualify for an exemption to burn certain plant tissue and untreated wood as a fuel in a small appliance if you burn less than 1 tonne of waste as fuel per hour and the appliance has a relevant PPC permit.

This is a paragraph 5 exemption - find information on paragraph 5 exemptions for burning of waste as a fuel.