# The Waste (Materials Facilities) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, Regulation 2: Amendment of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Extent: N.I.

The Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 are amended as follows––
(1) In regulation 1(3)––
(a) after the definition of “exempt activity” insert––
““fibre-based composite material” means packaging material which is made of paperboard or paper fibres, with a layer of plastic, and which may also have layers of other materials, to form a single unit that cannot be separated by hand;”;
(b) after the definition of “industrial battery or accumulator” insert––
““materials facility” means––
(a) a facility or part of a facility where waste material is received in order to-–
(i) separate it into specified output material; or
(ii) consolidate it into bulk quantities (whether as a first point of consolidation for such waste or following the first consolidation of bulk quantities transferred from other suppliers);
for the purpose of selling it, or transferring it to other facilities or persons to enable that material to be prepared for re-use or recycling;
(b) any reference to a “materials facility” excludes a facility or part of a facility––
(i) at which all the waste material received during a reporting period is attributable exclusively to a single supplier, unless the waste material so received is separated into specified output material at that facility;
(ii) that is provided pursuant to arrangements made under section 25(1)(b) of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997;
(iii) that undertakes the processing or sorting of waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste batteries or accumulators;
“Materials Facilities Code” means the Code of Practice on Sampling and Reporting at Materials Facilities issued by the Department on 31st January 2025;”;
(c) after the definition of “scrap metal” insert––
““specified output material” means a batch of material (whether or not waste) that is—
(a) produced from a separating process for waste material; and
(b) made up of one or more of the following kinds of material—
(i) glass;
(ii) metal;
(iii) paper;
(iv) card;
(v) plastic;
(vi) fibre-based composite material;”;
(d) after the definition of ““waste electrical and electronic equipment” or “WEEE”” insert––
““waste material” means waste that—
(a) is household waste, or originates from a source other than household waste but is similar to household waste in terms of its nature or composition;
(b) has been separately collected (whether as a single kind of material or two or more kinds of material mixed together) for the primary purpose of preparing it for re-use or recycling; and
(c) consists (whether wholly or in part) of any of the following kinds of material—
(i) glass;
(ii) metal;
(iii) paper;
(iv) card;
(v) plastic;
(vi) fibre-based composite material;”.
(2) After regulation 11D insert––
“Conditions of waste management licences: Materials facilities
11E. The Department shall ensure that any waste management licence granted or varied on or after 1st April 2025 authorising the treatment of waste material at a materials facility contains a condition requiring the holder of the licence to comply with the Materials Facilities Code.”.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2025/18/regulation/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/waste-materials-facilities-regulations-northern-ireland-2025/regulation-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.