Import and Export of Waste

Import & Export of Waste Explanation - The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste & Basel Convention

The Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture is the public organisation for protecting and enhancing the environment in the Isle of Man. The Department regulates industry and inspects industrial sites to protect the environment and residents from pollution and risks to health.

Amongst our other responsibilities as a regulator of waste the Department is designated as competent authority for the Isle of Man for the transfrontier shipment of wastes as required by The Basel Convention. The competent authority is responsible for the operation and enforcement of transfrontier shipment of waste legislation in their area of operation.

The three main objectives of the Basel Convention are:

• To reduce transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and other wastes to a minimum consistent with their environmentally sound management
• To treat and dispose of hazardous wastes and other wastes as close as possible to their source of generation in an environmentally sound way
• To minimise the generation of hazardous wastes and other wastes (in terms of quantity and potential hazard)

The Isle of Man does not permit the import of any wastes onto its shores.

The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Application (TFS)

View UK guidance

If a company requires to make an application for shipping waste to another country, the following procedure and information should be submitted to the Department (the competent authority):

• Contact the Department on environmentalprotection@gov.im with the request, you will be issued with a TFS notification & movement application form with a unique reference number
• As a notifier you must draw up a contract with the business that will be recovering/disposing of the notified waste – a template contract form will be sent as part of the application process
• Notifiers must provide a financial guarantee or equivalent insurance for shipping notified waste. The guaranteed amount should be enough to cover the cost of:
  • Transporting the waste (£/tonne)
  • Recovering or disposing of the waste
  • Storage for up to 90 days
• The notifier must certify on the notification document and on the movement document that appropriate insurance against liability for damage to third parties is in place for shipping the waste
• If you are sending a notification for recovering waste, you will also have to provide the following information:
  • Flow diagram of the recovery process
  • How you plan to dispose of the remaining waste after recycling
  • The amount of recovered material in relation to non-recoverable waste
  • The estimated value of the recycled/recovered material
  • The cost of recovering the waste
  • The cost of disposing of the amount of non-recoverable waste
• You must send the completed notification document and movement document and all necessary supporting information, with a cheque made out to Environment Agency or confirm a BACS payment the Environment Agency has been completed to the Department, the competent authority

The Import & Export of Waste Regulations 2001

The Regulations cover the following:

• Prohibition of import of waste
• Restrictions on the export of waste
• Notification of intended export of waste
• Contract for disposal or recovery
• Financial guarantee or insurance

The requirements of the Regulations impose restrictions on the importation of waste and places duties to the exporters of waste shipping off the Island.

To support The Import & Export of Waste Regulations 2001, the Department must ensure any shipments of waste comply with the United Kingdom’s and European Union’s Transfrontier shipment of waste regulations 2019.

For further information, contact: EnvironmentalProtection@gov.im