Guidance

Storing and treating hazardous waste cable: RPS 276

Updated 12 March 2025

Applies to England

This regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal requirement to comply with an environmental permit when you store or treat hazardous waste cable.

However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if do not comply with this legal requirement provided:

• 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 if you store and treat non-WEEE waste electrical and telecommunications cable that is hazardous waste and coded as either:

• 17 04 10* from construction and demolition waste sources
• 16 01 21* when removed from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs)

Conditions you must comply with

You must tell the Environment Agency before you use this RPS. Email wastetreatment@environment-agency.gov.uk with:

• your site address
• the maximum quantity of cable you will store at any one time under this RPS
• the maximum quantity of cable you will treat on any one day under this RPS
• ‘RPS 276 - waste cable’ as the subject of the email

You must keep records for 3 years to show that you have complied with this RPS and make these records available to the Environment Agency on request.

Unless you can show that the cable is non-hazardous waste, you must make sure waste cable from:

• construction and demolition work is dual coded and consigned as 17 04 10* and 17 04 11
• vehicles is dual coded as 16 01 21* and 16 01 22

You must store and treat waste cable in areas which have an impermeable surface with sealed drainage.

You must not:

• accept any cable that contains oil or tar
• accept any cable that includes cable from WEEE
• mix any non-WEEE cable with cable from WEEE
• mix any plastic from non-WEEE cable with plastic from WEEE cable

You must only accept the following additional cable types if your site operates under one of the permits or exemptions specified.

ELV cable 16 01 21*

You can accept this if you have a bespoke waste operation or installation permit, or a standard rules permit, which authorises you to accept waste cable coded as 16 01 22.

Construction and demolition cable 17 04 10*

You can accept this if you have a bespoke waste operation or installation permit, or a standard rules permit, which authorises you to accept waste cable coded as 17 04 11.

If you do not have one of these permits, you can accept construction and demolition cable coded 17 04 10* if you operate under one of the following:

• a registered T9 waste exemption for recovering scrap metal
• a registered S2 exemption for storing waste in a secure place
• low risk waste position 49, ‘Storing and treating waste cable at existing T9 exempt operations
• a household waste recycling centre (household waste amenity site) permit

You must comply with all other requirements of your permit, exemption or low risk position.

Things to note

Once a permit has been varied to include codes 16 01 21* and or 17 04 10*, this RPS will no longer apply to that permitted facility.

Varying your permit to add hazardous waste codes may change the technical competence requirements for your permit. For example, the operator of a permitted site currently treating non-hazardous metal wastes, may currently hold a CIWM Level 4 Medium Risk Operator Competence for Non-Hazardous Waste Treatment and Transfer (MROC1) qualification. By varying your permit to add hazardous waste codes, the correct qualification would be CIWM Level 4 Medium Risk Operator Competence for Physical Treatment (MROC2).

You will have 12 months from the date of variation to gain the right qualification. More information can be found on the CIWM qualifications website.

When you must check back

The Environment Agency will review this RPS by 31 December 2026.

The Environment Agency can withdraw or amend this regulatory position before the review date if they consider it necessary. This includes where the activity 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. 

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 emailing enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk with RPS 276 in the subject

Contact the Environment Agency

If you have any questions about this RPS email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk with RPS 276 in the subject.