What Is a Hazardous Waste Consignment Note? UK Guide

Move a skip of broken brick and you need a simple transfer note. Move a drum of waste oil, a load of asbestos, or a pallet of old fluorescent tubes, and the rules change. Hazardous waste carries stricter, more detailed paperwork — and the document that carries it is the hazardous waste consignment note.

Get it right and the load moves cleanly. Get it wrong — a missing code, an unsigned part, the wrong premises — and you risk a rejected delivery, a stop-check, or a fine under the duty of care.

This guide explains what a consignment note is, when you need one, the five parts that make it up, who signs each, and how long you have to keep it. No jargon, no fluff.

What is a hazardous waste consignment note?

A hazardous waste consignment note (often shortened to HWCN or just "consignment note") is the legal record that must accompany every movement of hazardous waste in England and Wales, from the site that produces it to the authorised facility that receives it. It's required under the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005.

Think of it as the heavy-duty cousin of a standard waste transfer note. A transfer note covers ordinary controlled waste. Hazardous waste needs the extra detail a consignment note demands — because what's in the load matters far more if something goes wrong.

When do you need one — and what counts as hazardous?

You need a consignment note whenever hazardous waste is moved off site. The harder question is usually: is this waste hazardous?

Waste is hazardous if it has one or more hazardous properties (HP codes) — things like flammable, corrosive, toxic, or harmful. In the List of Wastes (the EWC), hazardous entries are marked with an asterisk. Common examples on UK sites include:

• Asbestos and asbestos-containing materials

• Waste oils, fuels and solvents

• Lead-acid and lithium batteries

• Fluorescent tubes and other mercury-containing items

• Contaminated soils from demolition or remediation

• Many types of WEEE (electrical waste)

If you're not certain, classify the waste before you move it. The Environment Agency guidance on waste classification walks through how to assign the right code, and our own guide to EWC codes breaks the system down in plain English. The code you choose drives everything else on the note.

What's on a consignment note: the five parts

A consignment note is split into parts, each completed by a different party at a different point in the journey:

1. Part A — Notification details. The unique consignment note code, the producer and the premises the waste leaves, the receiving facility, and the carrier.

2. Part B — Description of the waste. The EWC code, quantity, container type, physical form, the hazard (HP) codes, and the main chemical or biological components.

3. Part C — Carrier's certificate. Signed by the carrier when they collect the load. If more than one carrier handles it, each completes a Part C.

4. Part D — Consignor's certificate. The producer or holder declares the information is correct and that they've applied the waste hierarchy.

5. Part E — Consignee's certificate. Completed by the receiving site when the waste arrives, recording the quantity accepted (or rejected) and the recovery or disposal operation used.

Every consignment note carries a unique code, and the description in Part B has to be accurate enough that the receiving site knows exactly what's turning up.

Who signs, and when

The sequence matters. The producer completes Parts A, B and D before the waste leaves site. The carrier signs Part C on collection. The receiving facility completes Part E on arrival and sends a return back to the producer confirming what happened to the waste.

Underpinning all of it is the duty of care set out in Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 — the legal obligation on everyone in the chain to handle waste responsibly and keep the right records.

This is where doing it on paper starts to hurt: three signatures across three locations, often with no signal and no printer. Digital tools like WTNcloud capture each party's signature on a phone — even offline — and email the finished note to everyone automatically. If you just want to produce one quickly, our free HWCN generator creates a compliant consignment note in a couple of minutes.

How long do you keep them?

Producers and carriers must keep consignment notes for at least three years; receiving sites keep their records for at least three years too. The same retention thinking applies across your paperwork — see how long to keep your waste records for the full picture.

One regional note: in England, the old requirement to register hazardous-waste premises with the regulator was removed in 2016. In Wales, producers generally still need to register their premises with Natural Resources Wales. If you operate across the border, check both.

Digital Waste Tracking is on the way

Paper consignment notes are living on borrowed time. DEFRA's mandatory Digital Waste Tracking will require waste movements — hazardous included — to be recorded digitally as it rolls out from 2026. We cover what's changing in our guide to DEFRA Digital Waste Tracking.

The carriers who move to digital records now will barely notice the switch. The ones still juggling carbon-copy pads will feel it.

The bottom line

A hazardous waste consignment note isn't optional bureaucracy — it's the legal thread that follows dangerous waste from your site to its final destination. Classify the waste correctly, complete all five parts, collect every signature, and keep the record for three years.

Ready to go digital? Start with 20 free WTNs at WTNcloud — no card required.