Insight User Guide: Waste and landfill
Active or recent landfill (England)
Active or recently closed landfill sites under Environment Agency/Natural Resources Wales regulation. Groundsure uses the latest polygonised data, this provides boundary information illustrating the extent of currently operating sites (and those that have recently closed). The boundary information will often include all of the land owned by the operating company and may not correspond to the area of fill.
Data source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales
Data update schedule EA: Quarterly
Data update schedule NRW: Static (last updated in 2020)
Active or recent landfill (Scotland)
Active or recently closed landfill sites under Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regulation. These landfill records relate to sites issued with a licence within Scotland only.
Data update schedule: Quarterly (most recently updated on 12/08/2024) (applies to reports produced from 1st October 2024 onwards)
Historical landfill (from British Geological Survey (BGS) records)
The waste site index is a listing of some 3,500 waste sites in England and Wales identified by the BGS as part of a survey carried out on behalf of the Department of Environment in 1973. The index has been corrected and updated to a limited extent, but the data itself has not been changed.
Data update schedule: Static
Historical landfill (from Local Authority and historical mapping records)
Landfill sites identified from Local Authority records and high detail historical mapping. It should be noted that the ‘Date’ field is either representative of the mapped year (if derived from historical mapping) or of a planning application date (the earliest available for the site).
Data Source: Ordnance Survey, Groundsure and Local Authority records
Data update schedule: Monthly
Historical landfill (from Environment Agency records)
Known historical (closed) landfill sites (e.g. sites where there is no Pollution Prevention Control (PPC) permit or waste management licence currently in force). This includes sites that existed before the waste licensing regime and sites that have been licensed in the past but where a licence has been revoked, ceased to exist or surrendered and a certificate of completion has been issued. The boundary information will often include all of the land owned by the operating company and may not correspond to the area of fill.
Data source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales
Data update schedule EA: Quarterly
Data update schedule NRW: Static (last updated in 2017)
Historical waste sites
These are records of former waste storage, treatment or transfer sites that have been identified from high detailed historical maps or Local Authority planning records. It should be noted that the ‘Date’ field is either representative of the mapped year (if derived from historical mapping) or of a planning application date (the earliest available for the site).
Data update schedule: Annually
Licensed waste sites (England)
Active or recently closed waste sites under the Permitted Waste Sites database contains information on: the licence holder; site address; correspondence address; dates of licence issue, modification, transfer, surrender and revocation; size; and location.
Data source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales
Data update schedule: Quarterly
Licensed waste sites (Scotland)
Active or recently closed waste sites under the Permitted Waste Sites database.
Data source: Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Data update schedule: Quarterly (most recently updated on 12/08/2024) (applies to reports produced from 1st October 2024 onwards)
Waste exemptions
Activities involving the storage, treatment, use or disposal of waste that are exempt from needing a permit. Exemptions have specific limits and conditions that must be adhered to.
Data source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales
Data update schedule: Quarterly