Introduction to environmental permits and licences
How to comply with the law by getting the right environmental permits and other licences for your business activities.
Business activities that may cause pollution or that pose another risk to the environment are regulated.
You must ensure that you have appropriate environmental permit or licence for the activities your business carries out. Most authorisations are issued by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), but some are issued by your district council or Northern Ireland Water.
This guide outlines the main environmental authorisations including pollution prevention and control permits, waste management licences, water discharge consents, groundwater authorisations, abstraction licences and hazardous waste notification.
Types of environmental licences and permits
Examples of the types of environmental licences and permits your business may need for regulated activities.
You may require authorisation, in the form of permits, licences, consents, registrations, notifications or exemptions, in order to carry out certain types of business activity. You must comply with the conditions that are part of the authorisation. These aim to control the impact of your activities on the environment.
In most cases, you'll need to apply to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), which is the main environmental regulator in Northern Ireland. District councils and Northern Ireland Water are in charge of some types of authorisation.
Do I need an environmental licence or permit?
You will need authorisation if you:
- carry out certain listed activities at an installation or mobile plant, such as industrial activities, or carry out waste disposal or recovery activities, such as metals recycling or waste transfer stations
- discharge anything other than clean water into surface waters or groundwater
- discharge trade effluent into the public foul sewer
- take water from surface waters or groundwater, or obstruct them in any way
- transport waste, or arrange for someone else to do so
- produce or move hazardous waste
- keep, use or dispose of radioactive substances
- produce greenhouse gas emissions that are covered by emissions trading schemes
PPC permits and waste management licences
An overview of pollution prevention and control permits and waste management licences and the possible exemptions.
Pollution prevention and control (PPC) permits and waste management licences regulate business activities that could have an impact on the environment or human health.
PPC permits
You may require a PPC permit from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) or your district council because of the type and size of the activities your business carries out. For example, you may need a PPC permit if your business carries out:
- energy activities, such as combustion and refining
- metals production and processing
- mineral activities, such as production of cement, lime, glass and ceramics
- production of chemicals, including fertilisers and pharmaceuticals
- waste activities, such as operating a landfill site or incinerator
- activities involving the use of solvents, such as coating, printing and dry cleaning
You must comply with the conditions of your permit or you could be fined or even sent to prison.
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Waste management licences
You may need a waste management licence from NIEA, for example if you:
- store other people's waste
- treat waste, carry out recycling or use waste mobile plants
- carry out final disposal of waste
You are unlikely to need a licence if you only store waste that you produce and an authorised waste carrier removes it from your site regularly. However, you must check that anyone who handles your waste has the correct permit, licence or exemption.
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Waste management licensing exemptions
Your activity may qualify for an exemption from waste management licensing. Whether you need a licence or to register an exemption will depend on:
- how long you store waste
- the types and quantities of wastes that you handle
- the activities carried out on your site
If your activity is exempt, you may still need to register it with NIEA. You will still need to comply with controls to prevent pollution and harm to human health.