Contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to register as a waste carrier if you want to transport waste for your business, or buy and sell it.

You must also register to arrange for waste to be transported, disposed of or recovered.

You don’t need to register if you only:

• transport your own household waste (not as part of a trade or business)
• move waste around your own site
• transport waste to or from the UK but not within it
• are a ferry operator, and your ferry takes vehicles carrying waste
• have a marine licence or marine licence exemption

You can get more help on whether or not you need to register by contacting your local SEPA office.

How to apply

Contact SEPA if your main place of business is in Scotland. Your registration covers the whole of Great Britain.

There are two types of registration – which one you need depends on who you are.

Professional carriers of waste

You can apply for registration as a professional carrier of waste if you:

• are a charity or voluntary organisation
• only work with animal by-products, mining and quarry waste or waste from agricultural premises
• are a government department or local council
• only transport waste from your own business (and it is not construction or demolition waste)

You can carry waste without being registered if you’re on this list but you don’t carry waste normally or regularly.

You don’t have to pay a fee.

You’ll get a letter confirming your registration. Your registration doesn’t need to be renewed.

Carriers and brokers

If you aren’t on the list of professional carriers you must register as:

• a carrier if you transport waste
• a broker if you arrange for waste to be recovered or disposed of
• both a carrier and a broker if you do both activities

You will have to pay a fee of £158 for registration, and £42 if you want to add another category to your registration later.

You get a certificate when you register. For £5 each you can also get credit card size copies.

Your registration will last for 3 years.

Producing your registration certificate

You must produce your registration certificate, or the credit card size version, when asked.

Fines and penalties

You can be fined up to £5,000 if you transport waste but you aren’t registered, or if you can’t show your registration certificate or card when asked.