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Permit tonnage limits: yearly and storage limits, and staying within them

By James Parry, head of product at Tippa · Last reviewed

In short: most waste permits limit how much waste you can accept in a year, how much you can store at any one time and how long it can stay. The Environment Agency's guidance says you must not accept waste if you would breach your permit by doing so, and that your records should show the waste on site against your permit's limits. Breaking a permit condition is an offence, and it counts against your compliance score.

The kinds of limit a permit sets

Limits in some common standard rules permits

A standard rules permit uses a fixed set of rules, and you cannot change them. These are the limits in some sets small sites often hold in England. Your permit names the set it's on: check that set's own rules.

SetAccepted a yearStored at any one timeLongest storage
SR2022 No 5: non-hazardous waste transferNo more than 75,000 tonnes15,000 tonnes (Table 2.3a wastes) and 40,000 tonnes (Table 2.3b)6 months
SR2022 No 4: non-hazardous waste recyclingLess than 75,000 tonnes15,000 tonnes (Table 2.3a wastes and what's made from them) and 40,000 tonnes (Table 2.3b)6 months
SR2022 No 3: construction, demolition and excavation waste transferNo more than 250,000 tonnes50,000 tonnes in total12 months
SR2021 No 11: small metal recyclingNo more than 5,000 tonnes100 tonnes3 years
SR2015 No 16: metal recyclingLess than 25,000 tonnesSee the setSee the set
SR2021 No 12: vehicle depollution and dismantlingLess than 750 tonnesSee the set1 year before disposal, 3 years before recovery

Older permits may still name a set GOV.UK has since withdrawn. The SR2008 No 1 and SR2008 No 3 transfer station sets were withdrawn on 30 June 2025 and consolidated into SR2022 No 5 and SR2022 No 4. The full list of sets is on GOV.UK's standard rules collection.

Bespoke permits

A bespoke permit is tailored to your business activities, so its limits are your own. The application asks for your annual throughput in tonnes each year and your total storage capacity, meaning the most waste in tonnes stored on the site at any one time. Read your permit for the figures it settled on.

Keeping track of where you stand

The EA's appropriate measures for non-hazardous and inert waste sites set out what your records should do:

In practice that means two running totals. For the storage limit: what came in, less what went out, is what should be on site now. For the yearly limit: the total accepted so far this year, whatever has since left. Check how your permit counts its year.

Fire prevention adds its own limits for combustible waste. The EA's fire prevention plan guidance says such waste must be stored for less than 6 months, with piles no more than 4m high and 20m long or wide. If you keep piles at their largest size for longer than 3 months, you must show what extra measures prevent them catching fire on their own.

How the regulator checks

If you're getting close to a limit

  1. Stop taking waste you have no room for. The EA's guidance is clear that you must not accept waste if doing so would breach your permit.
  2. Move waste on to bring the storage figure down. Moving waste off site doesn't reduce the yearly total, which counts what you've accepted.
  3. Apply to change your permit if the business has outgrown it. You can apply to change your permitted activity or its conditions. A standard rules permit can only have an administrative or minor variation. GOV.UK gives changing your annual throughput, with no more storage and no more risk, as an example of a minor variation. If you won't meet the standard rules any more, you need a bespoke permit instead, which is likely to be a substantial variation.

GOV.UK publishes no fixed time for a decision: it depends on the application. Apply well before you reach the limit, not after.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Common questions

Does the yearly limit count waste I've already sent on?

Yes. The yearly limit counts the waste you accept: the EA's transfer station rules say no more than 75,000 tonnes of waste shall be accepted per year. Sending waste on frees up storage, not the yearly total.

What happens if I go over a limit?

Breaching a permit condition is an offence. The EA scores the breach, which can raise your subsistence charge, and its first response is usually advice or a warning.

Can I raise my permit's limit?

You can apply to vary your permit. On a standard rules permit, changing the annual throughput with no more storage or risk can be a minor variation; going beyond the set's rules means a bespoke permit.

Do I have to keep a running total?

The EA's appropriate measures say your tracking system should work as a waste inventory and stock control system, reporting the waste on site against your permit's limits.

Check the official guidance

This guide is based on these pages. Rules change, so check them for the latest position.

How Tippa helps

Tippa keeps the running totals for you, from the loads you already record.

Mass Balance in Tippa for one of a site's permits: the waste stored there, at 92% of the permit's storage limit
Mass Balance for one permit: what's stored now against its storage limit, and what's been received this year against its yearly limit.
  • Add each permit your site holds and Tippa checks it on its regulator's register, then fills in its waste codes, tonnage limits and operations from its standard rules set or its published permit. You can change any of it. Free.
  • Mass Balance, in the Reporting add-on, shows what should be on site from what came in and went out, for the whole site or each permit, with each permit's storage and yearly limits and how close you are: “Near the limit” from 90%, “Over the limit” once past it. It shows where you stand; it doesn't stop a load being saved.
  • Your tonnes in and out, day by day, on the dashboard, free.
  • The same records build your regulator's waste returns, with the Waste Returns add-on.
  • Checking someone else's site? The free permit checker looks a permit up on the public registers, no account needed.
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This guide is general information about UK waste rules, not legal or regulatory advice. You remain responsible for meeting the duties that apply to your business; check the official guidance above and take professional advice where you need it.