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Disposal code

D9: Physico-chemical treatment

Waste is treated physically or chemically, for example by evaporation, drying or calcination (heating it to a high temperature), and what's left is then disposed of under one of D1 to D12.

The legal wording

Physico-chemical treatment not specified elsewhere in this Annex which results in final compounds or mixtures which are discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 12 (e.g. evaporation, drying, calcination, etc.)

From Annex I to the Waste Framework Directive, which the Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 point to for every D code.

Disposal in the waste hierarchy

D9 is a disposal operation, the last step in the waste hierarchy. A business that passes waste on has to take the reasonable steps open to it to put prevention, re-use, recycling and other recovery first.

On a Digital Waste Tracking receipt

For each EWC code (the six-digit code from the List of Wastes that says what a waste is) on a receipt, the site that takes the waste in records the D code or the R code, or both, for what it will do with it, and the weight each code covers.

Sources

Need the waste code? Look up the right EWC code in the List of Wastes.New to a term? The glossary explains POPs, HP codes, duty of care and the rest in plain English.

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CarrierNote is on the GOV.UK software provider list, connected to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking service. Receiving sites are in scope from October 2026 and carriers from October 2027, and you can be recording to DEFRA's standard from your first load, whenever you start.

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