Guidance

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

Updated 1 August 2023

This regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal obligations to have an environmental permit for a waste operation when you treat or dispose of invasive non-native plant material and the soil that they are growing in.

However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if do not comply with this legal requirement 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 treating and disposing of invasive non-native plants and the soils that they are growing in. This includes Japanese knotweed.

If you cannot dispose of Japanese knotweed on the site where it is growing, you must send it to a landfill site or incineration facility that has the correct type of permit.

Conditions you must comply with

You must:

• 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 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

Burning plant material at the site where it’s growing

You must:

• register 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

  • 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
  • UV resistant

• notify the Environment Agency by email at 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

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 2025.

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.

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 and must tell the Environment Agency immediately using the details under Contact the Environment Agency.

Contact the Environment Agency

If you have any questions about this RPS email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk