Guidance

Recovering unused waste plastics coded 16 03 06: RPS 273

Updated 23 June 2026

Applies to England

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 against you if you do not comply with these legal requirements provided that:

• your activity meets the description set out in this RPS
• you comply with the conditions set out in this RPS

In addition your activity must not cause (or be likely to cause) pollution of the environment or harm to human health, and must not:

• cause a risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals
• cause a nuisance through noise or odours
• adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest

Activity this RPS applies to

This RPS applies to storing, treating and using unused waste plastics coded 16 03 06 ‘off specification batches and unused products’ where any of the following apply:

• this waste code is not in your environmental permit
• you operate under a T4 waste exemption: preparatory treatments, such as, baling, sorting, shredding
• you operate under a U9 waste exemption: using waste to manufacture finished goods

Conditions you must comply with

You must either:

• hold an environmental permit that authorises the treatment or use of waste plastics
• have registered either a T4 or U9 waste exemption

You must:

• only store, treat or use waste made up of unused plastics coded 16 03 06
• comply with your environmental permit, or the limits and conditions specified in your registered T4 or U9 waste exemption
• keep records for 2 years to show that you have complied with this RPS and make these records available to the Environment Agency on request

You must not exceed the plastic tonnage limit in your environmental permit, or your registered T4 or U9 waste exemption.

Things to note

Examples of treatment include:

• shredding
• granulation
• pelletisation
• densification
• heat treatment (as part of an extrusion process)

Examples of the waste stream 16 03 06 ‘off specification batches and unused products’ include:

• plastic items that have failed quality assurance due to a manufacturing fault
• plastic items that have passed a use-by date but remain essentially unaltered from the time of production – for example, they have not degraded or decayed

This RPS relates to an activity that the Environment Agency considers is potentially suitable to be an exemption under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. A change in law is required to do this.

When you must check back

The Environment Agency will review this RPS by 1 July 2029.

The Environment Agency can withdraw or amend this regulatory position before the review date if they consider it necessary. This includes where the activity that this RPS relates to has not changed.

You will need to check back from time to time, including at and before the review date, to see if this RPS still applies.

This RPS remains in force until it is removed from GOV.UK or is otherwise identified as having been withdrawn.

You can subscribe to email updates about this RPS. These will tell you if the RPS has changed and when it has been withdrawn. Use the ‘Get emails about this page’ feature on the RPS publication page.

If you cannot comply with this RPS

If you operate under this RPS but can no longer comply with it, you must:

• stop the activity to which this RPS relates
• tell the Environment Agency immediately by contacting enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk with RPS 273 in the subject

Contact the Environment Agency

If you have any questions about this RPS, email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk with RPS 273 in the subject.