Guidance

Treatment and disposal of invasive non-native plants: RPS 178

Updated 4 September 2025

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

• have an environmental permit where one is required
• 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 meet 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 treating and disposing of invasive non-native plants and the soils that they are growing in.

Conditions you must comply with

You must:

• bury or reuse material on the site from which it originates
• if you cannot dispose of Japanese knotweed on the site where it is growing, send it to a landfill site or incineration facility that has the correct type of permit
• have a management plan which sets out how you will dig up, treat or bury the material to prevent further growth or spread beyond the site
• bury the material on land that is of low-habitat value
• bury the material in an area that is likely to be undisturbed and more than 7 metres away from an adjacent landowner’s site

• make sure that the material does not contain pollutants that will pose a threat to groundwater quality

• keep records for 2 years from the date of the last use of the RPS to show that you have complied with this RPS and make these records available to the Environment Agency on request

You must not store the material for more than 12 months before you treat or bury it, or more than 6 months if you have registered a D7 waste exemption for the burning of that material.

Burning plant material at the site where it’s growing

You must:

• register and comply in full with a D7 waste exemption
• comply with the conditions in this RPS when you bury ash and any remaining material on-site, or you take it for appropriate disposal at a permitted landfill site

Burying plant material that is not Japanese knotweed

You must:

• only bury plant material that is an invasive non-native plant species from aquatic, riparian and wetland habitats
• only bury material with a bio-security risk to the environment that requires its disposal on the site where it is growing
• bury soils containing seeds, rhizomes, corms or fragments of plant that could regrow at a minimum depth of 2 metres on the site they were growing

You must not bury more than 1,000 tonnes of plant material or soils containing seeds, rhizomes, corms or fragments of invasive non-native plant species

Burying Japanese knotweed

You must:

• only bury Japanese knotweed plant material, the ash from burning it and any soils potentially containing Japanese knotweed at the site where it was growing
• bury it at a depth of at least 5 metres if you have not sealed it with a geotextile membrane or 2 metres if you have sealed it with a geotextile membrane
• use geotextile membrane that is undamaged, large enough to minimise the need to join and seal it, sealed securely, able to remain intact for at least 50 years and UV resistant
• notify the Environment Agency by emailing enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk at least 1 week before you bury the Japanese knotweed material using this RPS

Reusing sieved or screened soils on sites with Japanese knotweed

You can reduce the quantity of Japanese knotweed in soil by screening or sieving it, but this is unlikely to remove all propagules (a piece of material that can develop into a new plant).

You must:

• only reuse screened or sieved soils at the site where the Japanese knotweed was growing
• only reuse soils in a restricted area of the site, not across all of it
• remove any unused screened or sieved soils for disposal to a landfill or incineration facility that has the correct type of permit

You must not reuse screened or sieved soils from sites with Japanese knotweed:

• at any site other than at the site where it was produced
• within 50 metres of watercourses, ditches or protected areas
• on boundaries with neighbouring properties
• on existing amenity areas, lawns and gardens
• in places that may be used by people or livestock

Things to note

Plants covered by this RPS include species listed under Schedule 9, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 such as Japanese knotweed, plants listed a species of special concern under The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019 and any other invasive non-native plant that may result in environmental degradation if spread.

You must also follow the guidance on how to stop non-native plants from spreading and how to stop Japanese knotweed from spreading.

When you must check back

The Environment Agency will review this RPS by 12 August 2028.

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.

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 178 in the subject

Contact the Environment Agency

If you have any questions about this RPS, email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk  with RPS 178 in the subject.