Waste Hierarchy: A Practical Guide for Businesses

The waste hierarchy is a five-step priority order for managing waste: prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery and disposal. Businesses in England and Wales have a legal duty under regulation 12 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 to apply it when they transfer waste, and every waste transfer note must confirm that the duty has been met. In practice that means choosing the highest option that is reasonable for each waste stream and being able to show why.

This guide explains each step, the law behind it, the declaration on your paperwork, how it applies to electrical waste, batteries, lamps and IT, and how to evidence it.

The five steps of the waste hierarchy

1. Prevention: using less material in design and manufacture, keeping products for longer, re-use, and using less hazardous materials. Defra's examples include selling, donating or swapping items you no longer need and hiring instead of buying. Items that are re-used before they become waste fall here.
2. Preparing for re-use: checking, cleaning, repairing or refurbishing whole items or spare parts that have become waste so they can be used again without further processing.
3. Recycling: turning waste into a new substance or product, including composting that meets quality protocols.
4. Other recovery: anaerobic digestion, incineration with energy recovery, gasification and pyrolysis, which produce energy and some materials.
5. Disposal: landfill and incineration without energy recovery.

The order is the default, not a ranking you can ignore. You start at the top and move down only where the higher option is not reasonable for that waste.

The legal basis

England and Wales

Regulation 12 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 applies to any establishment or undertaking that imports, produces, collects, transports, recovers or disposes of waste, and to dealers and brokers who have control of waste. On transfer, they must take all measures available to them that are reasonable in the circumstances to apply the hierarchy as a priority order.

You may depart from the order where it achieves the best overall environmental outcome, justified by life-cycle thinking on the overall impacts of generating and managing the waste. In reaching that decision you must consider:

• the principles of precaution and sustainability
• technical feasibility and economic viability
• protection of resources
• overall environmental, human health, economic and social impacts

Permitted sites also carry a permit condition requiring them to apply the hierarchy, and the duty extends to operators working under waste exemptions.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

In Scotland, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2011 extended the section 34 duty of care in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to include compliance with the waste hierarchy, and made failing to comply an offence under the duty of care. In Northern Ireland the duty is in regulation 17 of the Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011, and NetRegs notes that hazardous waste consignment notes there must declare that the hierarchy has been applied.

The waste hierarchy declaration on transfer notes

Regulation 35 of the 2011 Regulations sets out what a waste transfer note must contain. Alongside the List of Waste code, description, quantity and the details of both parties, it must confirm that the transferor has discharged the duty in regulation 12. The Defra guidance on applying the waste hierarchy suggests wording along the lines of "I confirm that I have fulfilled my duty to apply the waste hierarchy as required by regulation 12 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011".

For hazardous waste, the transfer note is replaced by the consignment note, and the consignor confirms in Part D that the waste hierarchy duty has been applied. See our waste transfer note guide and consignment note guide for the full contents of each.

Signing the declaration is a statement of fact. If you tick it without having considered re-use or recycling for that stream, the declaration is not true.

Practical examples: electrical waste, batteries, lamps and IT

Electrical equipment

• Prevention: buy durable, repairable equipment, keep it in service longer and hire equipment you use occasionally. Defra's guidance specifically suggests retaining, repairing or refurbishing electrical equipment and buying second-hand.
• Preparing for re-use: working items can be tested, repaired and passed on. GOV.UK says WEEE containing POPs cannot be re-used or recycled, so this step depends on the item.
• Recycling: equipment that cannot be re-used goes to an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF), where hazardous components are removed and metals, plastics and glass are separated and returned to manufacturing.
• Other recovery and disposal: residues that cannot be recycled, and POPs-containing fractions that must be destroyed.

Batteries

• Prevention: use rechargeable batteries and mains-powered equipment where practical, and maintain battery packs to extend their life.
• Recycling: send all batteries to a specialist treatment operator, keeping lithium cells protected and separate to reduce fire risk. See how to dispose of lithium batteries.

Lamps and lighting

• Prevention: replace fluorescent fittings with long-life LED luminaires on a planned programme rather than as lamps fail.
• Recycling: fluorescent tubes contain mercury, so they must go to a lamp recycler where the glass, metal end caps and phosphor powder are separated and the mercury is captured. See what happens to tubes and LED lamps after collection.

IT equipment

• Prevention: extend refresh cycles, redeploy devices internally and upgrade components such as memory or storage instead of replacing whole units.
• Preparing for re-use: devices can be refurbished and reused once data has been securely erased.
• Recycling: devices that are broken, obsolete or require physical destruction of data are recycled. Our ITAD and data destruction service provides certificates of destruction with serial number logs.

How to evidence the waste hierarchy

The law asks for reasonable measures, so your evidence should show what you considered and why you chose each route. A simple file for each waste stream should contain:

1. A waste stream register: each stream, its List of Waste code, approximate volume and the route chosen.
2. Your reasoning: a short note on why a higher option was not reasonable, for example equipment too old or damaged to re-use, or a data security policy that requires destruction. Defra describes recording these decisions as good practice.
3. Signed transfer notes and consignment notes: each with the regulation 12 declaration, kept for at least two years for transfer notes and three years for hazardous waste records.
4. Treatment evidence from your contractor: weights by stream, the recovery or disposal operation used, and recycling or destruction certificates.
5. Prevention and re-use records: asset redeployment logs, donations, repairs and procurement decisions that reduced waste.
6. An annual review: check whether streams currently going to recovery or disposal could move up the hierarchy.

From 1 October 2026, receiving sites in England and Wales record the recovery or disposal code for every load in Digital Waste Tracking, which gives regulators a clearer view of where waste ends up.

Common mistakes

• Treating the declaration as a formality and signing it without reviewing options.
• Sending working equipment straight to recycling when it could be redeployed or re-used.
• Mixing streams, which can close off recycling routes and may be illegal for hazardous waste.
• Having no record of why a lower option was chosen.
• Assuming the contractor's recycling rate proves you applied the hierarchy at your end.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the five steps of the waste hierarchy?

The five steps, in priority order, are prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery (such as energy recovery) and disposal. Prevention is the most preferred option and disposal the least.

Is the waste hierarchy a legal requirement?

Yes. In England and Wales, regulation 12 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 requires businesses that produce, carry, recover or dispose of waste to take all reasonable measures to apply the hierarchy when transferring waste.

What is the waste hierarchy declaration on a transfer note?

Regulation 35 requires a waste transfer note to confirm that the person transferring the waste has discharged the regulation 12 duty. Hazardous waste consignment notes include the same confirmation in the consignor's declaration in Part D.

Can you depart from the waste hierarchy?

Yes, where a different option gives the best overall environmental outcome, justified by life-cycle thinking. You must consider technical feasibility, economic viability, protection of resources and overall environmental, health, economic and social impacts, and Defra advises recording the reasons.

Where does recycling sit in the waste hierarchy?

Recycling is the third step, below prevention and preparing for re-use and above other recovery and disposal.

Does the waste hierarchy apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Yes. In Scotland the duty was added to section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2011, and in Northern Ireland it sits in regulation 17 of the Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011.

How Waste Experts supports the waste hierarchy

Waste Experts runs an Environment Agency permitted Approved Authorised Treatment Facility in Kirkheaton, Huddersfield (permit WEE/ME0006ZT/ATF) and is an Approved Battery Treatment Operator. Electrical waste, batteries, lamps and IT equipment are treated at our own facility, so materials are recycled and returned to manufacturing rather than sent for disposal.

Every collection comes with the transfer note or consignment note and reporting on weights by stream to support your evidence file. Over 390 CEF branches also act as drop-off points for business electrical waste. Find out more about our electrical waste recycling service.

Business customers only. Waste Experts collects from businesses and organisations, not households, and CEF branch drop-off is for business waste only. If you are getting rid of waste from your home, use your council's household waste recycling centre or a retailer take-back scheme instead.