Last reviewed 14 November 2023
The Environment Agency has published a regulatory position statement on the storage and treatment of hazardous waste wood from demolition and refurbishment activities.
According to the statement, the Environment Agency will normally not take regulatory action so long as businesses:
move amber items of waste wood under a transfer note and in line with duty of care requirements for non-hazardous waste
have a permit to store at a transfer station or treat waste wood
carry out pre-acceptance checks if you store at a transfer station or treat amber items of waste wood, to make sure that the waste wood producer is testing regularly (at least once a quarter) and has Wood Recyclers' Association (WRA) submission reports to prove it.
In addition, ensure all amber items of waste wood end up either in an Industrial Emissions Directive Chapter IV compliant permitted incinerator or co-incinerator or be used for the manufacture of engineered or composite board.
Sampling and testing have yet to confirm whether the amber items of waste wood listed in this regulatory position statement are hazardous or non-hazardous waste. The Environment Agency considers amber items of waste wood to be hazardous until sampling and testing show otherwise.