Submit your hazardous waste return

Hazardous waste consignee returns are completed to inform us about the hazardous waste consignments that have been received, removed or disposed at a site. They are a compulsory requirement of the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005.

You must send us a consignee return reporting what hazardous waste has been received, or disposed of at your premises or place where it is produced, every quarter.

This includes hazardous waste received at your premises. For example:

• a mobile service depot receiving waste produced by its staff at customer premises
• a business moving its own waste from one of its premises to another of its premises
• a business accepting waste returned by/from its customers
• exempt or permitted waste facilities accepting hazardous waste from others
• exempt or permitted sites that reject a hazardous waste (for example, because the site was not permitted to accept it)
• You may also need to send returns if you dispose of hazardous waste at the premises where it is produced

If your business does any these you are a consignee. As a consignee you are legally required to submit returns to Natural Resources Wales. The consignee return provides a detailed summary of each consignment of waste received, disposed of and rejected.

You must use the format we set for the return.

When to send a consignee return

You must provide a return reporting your activities for each three month period (quarter), within one month of the end of that quarter.

We recommend that you keep records of your returns for six years.

Nil (null) returns

Operators are required to submit a return for each reporting period.
If the operator hasn't dealt with any waste they should submit a 'nil return'.

To do this the operator needs to:

• Tick the 'nil returns' box on the returns forms / system
• Do not enter any data into the consignment details sheet

The operator must complete the other sections of the form so that we know which site the nil return applies to.

How to send a consignee return

Please complete the returns spreadsheet found at the bottom of the page
Returns must be submitted to:-

or alternatively posted to
Customer Care Centre, Natural Resources Wales, Ty Cambria, 29 Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 0TP

Consignee return charges

Operators are charged for hazardous waste consignee returns. They are charged per consignment of hazardous waste they have received at their site. The cost of a consignee return varies depending on the whether they send an electronic or paper return to us.

• Single Movement Consignments: £10
• Consignments forming Multiple Collections: £5
• There is no charge for null returns

• Single Movement Consignments: £19
• Consignments forming Multiple Collections: £10

There is no charge for null returns.

Regulatory Decisions (derogations)

We have regulatory decisions, also known as derogations that reduce the reporting requirements for certain hazardous waste streams. This is to aid recovery of these wastes.

We have derogations for 11 waste streams including:

• fluorescent tubes and other hazardous lighting equipment
• lead-acid motor vehicle batteries
• air freshener aerosol canisters from toilets or washrooms
• veterinary waste from farms
• dry cell portable batteries
• recovered refrigerant gas
• samples of hazardous waste being sent to laboratory
• un-depolluted ELVs
• small mixed WEEE from household sources
• municipal pesticides
• packaging waste

Find guidance on how to complete a consignee return for these waste streams. For a customer to benefit from the reduced reporting requirement, they must comply with all of the conditions the position statement.