Does your recycling and reprocessing business require a PPC permit?

Your business may require a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit from your environmental regulator or local council. For example, you will need a permit if your business has a production capacity above a certain level or if you use certain hazardous substances.

If your business is an installation or mobile plant you will need a pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit from your environmental regulator.

An installation is a stationary technical unit, such as a self-contained building, permanent structure or fixed plant, used for listed activities.

A mobile plant is plant that can be moved and is used for listed activities.

Listed activities

These are industrial, waste or intensive farming activities that have an impact on the environment and are listed in the PPC regulations. They are split into categories:

  • Part A, B and C in Northern Ireland
  • Part A and B in Scotland

Listed activities that might be carried out by recycling and reprocessing businesses include:

Permit Categories

Listed activity

Northern Ireland

Scotland

recovering certain organic and inorganic chemicals

Part A

Part A

recovering oil or organic solvent by distillation

Part A

Part A

recovering hazardous waste in a plant with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes per day, by specified recovery operations

Part A

Part A

reuse, reprocessing and recycling of oil, eg reprocessing vegetable oils into biofuels in certain conditions

Part A

Part A

dismantling end-of-life vehicles where components are recovered from catalysts in quantities of 10 tonnes per day or more

Part A

Part A

regenerating acids or bases in quantities of 10 tonnes per day or more

Part A

Part A

recovering mercury from fluorescent tubes

Part A

Part A

the operation of small waste oil burners

Part A

Part A

wood recycling if the activity involves cutting, sawing, shaping, drilling, planing, curing or chemically treating wood, and the throughput of the business is likely to be more than 10,000 cubic metres per year where wood is only sawed, or 1,000 cubic metres in any other case

Part C

Part B

crushing, grinding or screening bricks, tiles or concrete, unless carried out under an exemption

Part C

Part B

recycling scrap cable by using heat to separate it from plastic or rubber

Part C

Part B

What you must do

If your installation or mobile plant carries out listed activities you will need a permit from your environmental regulator.

Permits and regulators for listed activities

Activity category

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Part A

PPC permit regulated by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)

PPC permit regulated by SEPA

Part B

PPC permit regulated the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)

PPC permit regulated by SEPA

Part C

PPC permit regulated by local council

N/A

Contact your environmental regulator

You should contact your environmental regulator or local council for further information about listed activities. NetRegs does not provide detailed guidance on Part A activities.

If you are unsure whether you are affected by PPC, contact your environmental regulator or local council.

Contact your environmental regulator

Contact your local council

How to apply for a permit

NIEA: Apply online

SEPA: Application forms

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