EA permit number and exemption reference: what goes on the paperwork
An Environment Agency permit number is the reference the EA gives your site when it grants an environmental permit, and it is how that site is named on the records the waste rules ask you to keep. If your yard runs on registered waste exemptions instead of a full permit, your exemption registration reference does the same job on the same paperwork.
What an Environment Agency permit number is
An Environment Agency permit number is the reference printed on an environmental permit, and it identifies one permitted site and the waste activities the EA has authorised there. It belongs to the site, not to the company, not to the lorry and not to the person who signed the application, so a firm running two yards under two permits has two numbers.
It matters because almost every piece of waste paperwork has to answer the question "where did this load go, and was that place allowed to take it". A skip comes off a job, the weighbridge prints a ticket, the transfer note records the destination. The permit reference is what ties that destination to a site the regulator licensed, rather than to a name that could be anybody.
An example from a yard's own week: a tipper brings in mixed skip waste, your weighbridge operator writes the note, and the note names your site as the place receiving the waste along with your permit reference. Later, when the quarter closes, the same reference heads the return you send the EA. One typo in it, repeated across three months of records, is the kind of thing that turns a five minute inspection into an afternoon.
Permit number or exemption reference: which one you have
Not every site that takes waste holds a full permit. Smaller operations are often registered for one or more waste exemptions instead, each covering a specific activity within set limits. Either way the EA issues you a reference, and either way it is the thing your paperwork quotes.
A permitted site
You applied for an environmental permit, bespoke or standard rules, and the EA granted it with conditions attached. The permit document carries the reference. That reference stays with the site through the life of the permit, including when it is varied or transferred.
A registered exemption
You registered the exemptions that cover what you actually do, and the registration carries its own reference. Exemption registrations do not run forever, they are renewed on a cycle, so the reference you quote on a note today should be the one that is current rather than one carried over from an old renewal.
If you are not sure which you hold, look at what arrived from the EA when you set the site up. A permit is a document with conditions in it. An exemption registration is a confirmation listing the exemption types by code. They are not interchangeable, and quoting a lapsed exemption on a live record is worse than quoting nothing.
Which reference goes where
| Reference | Who it belongs to | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| EA permit number | The site that holds the environmental permit | Heading your own records, named as the destination on an incoming transfer note, on returns and correspondence with the EA |
| Exemption registration reference | The site registered for one or more waste exemptions | The same places a permit number would go, for a site operating under exemptions rather than a permit |
| Carrier, broker or dealer registration number | The haulier or broker moving or arranging the waste | The carrier's half of the transfer note, not the site's half |
| EWC code | The waste itself, not any party | The description of the load on every transfer note and in the quarterly return |
Getting it onto the record once, correctly
The practical problem is repetition. The reference does not change from load to load, but it has to be right on every record for years, and hand copying it from a wall certificate onto a duplicate book is how digits get swapped. Held once against the site, it is one thing to check properly. Copied onto each note by hand, it is a fresh chance to get it wrong on every load.
Skiplog is built so the reference sits with the yard rather than with each load. The site's name, address, region and EA permit or exemption number live on the site screen, and that detail heads every transfer note recorded against the yard and every quarterly return generated from it. Only the name is needed to start an account; the permit or exemption number is required before a return will export, which is the point at which the reference actually leaves your yard. Read it straight off the permit document and check it digit by digit before you save the site, because it cannot be changed from that screen afterwards. The return comes out as a CSV in an EA-specified column layout you can set to match what your area office asks for, generated in one click, so there is no retyping of site details at quarter end either. Skiplog is made to help you meet the record keeping requirements, not to decide compliance outcomes for you: the reference it prints is the one you gave it.
Related terms
- Waste transfer note (WTN). The record of a waste movement between two parties, where your site reference identifies the receiving end.
- Duty of care. The obligation that sits behind the paperwork and explains why the receiving site has to be identifiable at all.
- CBDU number. The carrier, broker or dealer registration number. It belongs to whoever moves or arranges the waste, and it is the one most often confused with a site permit number.
- EWC code. The List of Waste code describing what is in the skip, which sits alongside the site reference rather than replacing it.
- Consignment note. The separate record hazardous waste moves on, which asks for site and carrier references of its own.
Questions
Is an Environment Agency permit number the same as a waste carrier registration number?
No. A permit number belongs to a site and covers the activities authorised there. A carrier, broker or dealer registration belongs to the business that moves or arranges the waste. A transfer note usually carries both, in different places, and swapping them is a common paperwork error.
Where do I find my permit number?
On the permit document the EA issued when it granted or last varied the permit. Operators commonly keep a copy in the site office and a scan with the compliance paperwork. If you hold exemptions rather than a permit, the reference is on the registration confirmation listing your exemption types.
What if my site runs on exemptions and not a permit?
You quote the exemption registration reference in the same places a permitted site would quote its permit number. Keep an eye on the renewal cycle, because an expired registration makes the reference on your records out of date even if nothing about the yard has changed.
Does the permit number go on the waste transfer note?
The note has to make clear which site is receiving the waste and that the site is authorised to take it, so the site reference is the straightforward way to do that. Our page on what information a transfer note must contain walks through each field.
Does the permit number appear on a quarterly return?
Returns are filed per site, so the site's reference is how the EA knows which yard the figures belong to. Expect to have the number recorded before you can produce a return at all, because it heads the file and identifies the records inside it.
Can the number be changed after the site is set up?
In Skiplog the reference is entered once, when the site is created, and it cannot be changed from the site screen afterwards. So read it off the permit document at that moment and check it digit by digit before saving, because that single entry heads every note and every return the yard produces. It is worth confirming which reference is current first, since a permit can be varied or transferred.
What happens if the number on our records is wrong?
Records that cannot be tied to the right site are weak records, which is the same category of problem as missing or incomplete notes. The sooner it is spotted the less there is to put right, which is the argument for checking the reference against the permit document the day the yard is set up rather than at quarter end. See our page on what happens if transfer notes are missing or incomplete.