In a Press Release by the Environment Agency (EA) last year, the EA stated that Agriculture is the biggest sector they regulate in terms of individual businesses, with around 100,000 premises covering 70 per cent of the land in England.
Given farmers are heavily regulated by the EA, it is imperative farmers ensure they are operating lawfully and take steps to ensure any authorisations required for their activities are obtained.
In this article, we provide an overview on when a U10 waste exemption is required to spread waste to benefit agricultural land.
What is a waste exemption?
A waste exemption is a waste operation that is exempt from requiring an environmental permit. Each waste exemption has limits and conditions that must me complied with.
Click here to review government guidance on deciding which waste exemptions apply to your operations and whether you can meet all the limits and conditions.
Also, bear in mind that the waste exemptions are changing, and this will affect anyone who carries out a waste exemption activity. Defra’s consultation supplementary response document and its annexes explain the changes. The changes are likely to take place in 2025, but timescales have not been determined.
U10 waste exemptions – spreading waste to benefit agricultural land
A U10 waste exemption, if registered with the EA and relevant conditions complied with, allows you to spread specific waste on agricultural land to improve or maintain the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil to grow crops.
There are types of activity that a U10 exemption does not allow you to carry out, namely:
- spread waste that does not benefit the land
- spread waste on non-agricultural land – see related exemptions
- spread waste that is not listed even if they would provide benefits
- dispose of waste under this exemption, for example applying waste that will not benefit the land, or applying more than is needed to provide benefit
Types and quantities of waste that can be used
The waste used must fall within the below waste codes and descriptions. Note, the waste codes are listed in the List of Wastes Regulations.
| Waste code |
Type of waste |
Quantity (tonnes per hectare per year) |
Storage (tonnes) |
Conditions |
| 010102, 010408, 170504 |
Chalk only |
50 |
200 |
A |
| 020101 |
Sludge from cleaning fruit and vegetables on farm only |
50 |
200 |
A, F |
| 020199, 020399 |
Untreated water from cleaning fruit and vegetables on farm only |
100 |
200 |
A, F |
| 020305 |
Effluent from treating water used to clean fruit and vegetables on farm only |
100 |
200 |
A, F |
| 020401, 020399 |
Soil from cleaning fruit and vegetables only |
50 |
200 |
A |
| 100101 |
Ash from wood chip boilers burning plant tissue and untreated wood only. Registered and operating under a U4 exemption |
1 |
10 |
A |
| 170506 |
Dredging spoil, not containing any dangerous substances, from creating or maintaining habitats, ditches or ponds in parks, gardens, fields and forests only |
150 |
1,250 |
C |
| 020199 |
Used compost from growing mushrooms only |
50 |
500 |
A |
| 190599 |
Compost produced only from the limited list of waste and in the proportion stated in the T23 exemption or worm compost from T26 exemption only |
50 |
500 |
A |
| 190604 |
Digestate produced only from the limited range of waste and conditions allowed under T24 and T25 exemptions only |
50 |
200 |
A |
| 190812 |
Biobed or biofilter material produced from treatment registered and operated under T32 exemption only |
50 |
200 |
A, D |
| 020199 |
Milk from agricultural premises only |
50 cubic metres of diluted milk per hectare in any 24 hour period |
200 |
A, B, E |
Key conditions that apply to the U10 waste exemption
There are key conditions that apply to the use of U10 waste exemptions that need to be complied with – click here for more information.
A failure to comply with the conditions of the exemption exposes you to the risk of a prosecution for an unauthorised activity and HMRC alleging that there has been a taxable disposal of material pursuant to the Landfill Tax legislation. The standard rate of tax per tonne (from 1 April 2025) is £126.15 so if HMRC allege there has been a taxable disposal, depending on the tonnages of material, this could result in a very significant Landfill Tax bill. The rate of tax is reviewed every year on 1 April.
Requirement to keep records
You must keep records of the amount, nature and origin of all waste spread on your land for 2 years. These records must be available to the Environment Agency if they request to view them.
More information
For more information on U10 waste exemptions, we urge you to review the government guidance, U10 waste exemption: spreading waste to benefit agricultural land.
If you would like to receive guidance from our team, please get in touch with James Edes today.