Regulatory Decision 051: Excavated waste from utilities installation and repair

This Regulatory Decision (RD) is valid until 30 June 2024 by which time it will be reviewed. You should check back at that time to ensure the RD is still valid.

NRW can withdraw or amend this RD before the review date if we consider it necessary. This includes where the activity that this RD relates to have not changed.

Regulatory Decision

This RD applies to businesses who deal with excavated waste from unplanned utilities installation and repair works.

It allows you to classify certain excavated waste as non-hazardous. This means you can move it as non-hazardous waste under a waste transfer note.

If you follow all the conditions in this RD, you do not need to do a hazardous waste assessment for excavated wastes that are covered by this RD. If you cannot follow the conditions in this RD, you must follow the waste classification technical guidance to assess and classify all excavated waste.

This RD does not apply to any other activity, even if it is under the same legislation. You may still need other permits or licences for other activities you carry out.

Conditions you must comply with 

This RD only covers excavated wastes produced by (or on behalf of) utility companies that are members of Street Works UK and:

• are from unplanned utilities installation and repair
• would be classified under European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes:
  - 17 01 01 concrete
  - 17 01 02 bricks
  - 17 01 03 tiles and ceramics
  - 17 01 07 non-hazardous mixtures of concrete, bricks, tiles and ceramics
  - 17 03 02 non-hazardous bituminous mixtures
  - 17 05 04 soil and stones
  - 17 09 04 non-hazardous mixed construction and demolition wastes
• would not be classified as hazardous under the producer’s company procedures
• are not known or reasonably suspected to be hazardous, for reasons including (but not limited to):
  - visible and olfactory presence of hydrocarbons and other chemicals
  - waste containing visible pieces of material that contain asbestos
  - asphalt (tarmac) road surfaces likely to contain coal tar – for example, those laid in the 1980s or before
  - waste from excavations on contaminated sites if previous site investigations identified hazardous waste

You must:

• send the waste to a permitted site
• describe the excavated waste on any transfer note as ‘not assessed and classified in reliance of RD051’
• keep records for 2 years that show you have complied with this RD – you must make these records available to NRW on request

You must not:

• generate more than 10 cubic metres of waste at the excavation site
• treat or use the waste under an exemption
  
  

Enforcement

This RD does not change your legal requirement to classify waste when you are producing excavated waste from utility installation and repair.

However, NRW will not normally take enforcement action if you do not comply with waste classification requirements if you meet the requirements in this RD.

In addition your activity must not cause (or be likely to cause) pollution of the environment or harm to human health, and must not:

• cause a risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals
• cause a nuisance through noise or odours
• adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest