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Department of the Environment (DOE)

Northern Ireland Environment Agency

Driver & Vehicle Agency

Hazardous Waste

Environmental Policy Division (EPD) is responsible for hazardous waste legislation in Northern Ireland. If you produce, transport or receive hazardous waste you will be regulated by the Hazardous Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005Opens in a new window..

Transposition of the revised Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) Opens in a new window. for Northern Ireland has resulted in some changes to the Hazardous Waste Regulations. These changes have been implemented by regulations 45 to 63 of the Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 Opens in a new window. and came into operation on 8 April 2011.

Information on the major changes to the way hazardous waste is managed can be found on the NIEA Hazardous Waste Home page Opens in a new window..

Waste Hierarchy

Article 4 of the revised Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) Opens in a new window. sets out five steps for dealing with waste, ranked according to environmental impact - the "waste hierarchy". This requirement was transposed by Regulation 17 Opens in a new window. of the Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 and introduces a duty on waste operators to comply with the waste hierarchy. This duty came into operation on 8 October 2011.

The waste hierarchy applies to all waste including hazardous waste. Guidance on the specific application of the hierarchy to hazardous waste will be produced in due course. In the interim, the general principles outlined in the guidance documents, to be found on the DoE Waste homepage , should be applied to hazardous waste.  
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