Guidance

Recovering unused waste plastics coded 16 03 06: RPS 273

Environment Agency regulatory position on storing, treating and using plastic waste coded 16 03 06, when this waste code is not in your environmental permit or waste exemption.

• From: Environment Agency
• Published: 29 December 2022
• Last updated: 23 June 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 23 June 2026

     RPS 273 has been updated and extended to 1 July 2029.

  2. 29 August 2023

     The regulatory position statement has been updated to remove reference to 15 02 03 (as RPS C30 now exclusively deals with personal protective equipment (PPE)) and so it uses the latest template.

  3. 29 December 2022

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Recovering unused waste plastics coded 16 03 06: RPS 273

Ref: LIT 65083

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Details

This regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal requirement to:

• have an environmental permit where one is required
• comply with the conditions of your environmental permit
• register an activity as exempt where you are required to do so.

However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action if you do not comply with these legal requirements if you meet the requirements in this RPS.

This regulatory position does not apply to any other legal requirements.