Tree waste rules in Northern Ireland: waste management licensing exemptions for burning plant tissue, chipping and shredding
What DAERA and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 say about the exemptions that cover burning plant tissue in the open, chipping and shredding waste plant matter and shredding waste at the place it is produced.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, SR 2003 No 493, as shown on legislation.gov.uk, and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) pages for each exemption. DAERA calls them paragraph exemptions after the numbered paragraphs of Schedule 2.
Three exemptions that touch tree work
| Exemption | What DAERA and the Regulations say |
|---|---|
| Paragraph 21, chipping, shredding, cutting or pulverising waste plant matter | Covers waste plant matter including wood or bark, and sorting and baling sawdust or wood shavings, on premises. The work must be for recovery or reuse. No more than 1,000 tonnes may be dealt with in any seven days, and no more than 1,000 tonnes stored at any time, at the site where the work is done. |
| Paragraph 27, baling, compacting, crushing, shredding or pulverising waste at the place of production | Waste to be treated this way may be stored temporarily at the site where it was produced. DAERA says paragraph 27 does not have to be registered under the 2003 Regulations. |
| Paragraph 30, burning waste on land in the open | Covers plant tissue, burned on the land where it is produced, with no more than 10 tonnes burned in any 24 hours. Storage pending burning must be on the land where it will be burned. |
Paragraph 30 in detail
According to Schedule 2 of the Regulations, paragraph 30(1) lists where the waste may be produced: the operational land of a railway, light railway, tramway or any Government Department, or a forest, woodland, park, garden, verge, landscaped area, sports ground, recreation ground, bank of an inland waterway, churchyard or cemetery, or other land as a result of demolition work. Agricultural waste is also covered. Sub-paragraph (2) says it only applies to an establishment or undertaking burning its own waste. The Regulations define plant tissue as including linseed, oil-seed rape, dry field bean and dry pea residues, cereal straw and cereal stubble. The DAERA page for the paragraph 30 exemption repeats these conditions, and adds that plant has the meaning in Article 2 of the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006, which includes a tree or shrub and branches with or without foliage. Sub-paragraph (4) also covers incorporating ash from burned cereal straw or stubble into soil within 24 hours of the start of burning, or as soon as wind conditions allow where nuisance would be likely. Contains public sector information from legislation.gov.uk, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Paragraphs 21 and 27
The DAERA page for the paragraph 21 exemption lists waste plant matter, including wood or bark, and sawdust or wood shavings as the waste streams, with the limits above. Paragraph 21 of Schedule 2 is worded the same way. For paragraph 27, DAERA says the full wording is in paragraph 7 of the Waste Management Licensing (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, and that no registration is required.
For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. Another UK country is on the Wales page.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk, The Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, Schedule 2 exemptions, read October 9, 2026
- DAERA, The burning of waste on land in the open, paragraph 30 exemption, read October 9, 2026
- DAERA, The chipping, shredding, cutting or pulverising waste plant matter, paragraph 21 exemption, read October 9, 2026
- DAERA, The baling, compacting, crushing, shredding or pulverising of waste at the place of production, paragraph 27 exemption, read October 9, 2026