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Recovery code

R5: Recycling inorganic materials

Inorganic materials other than metals are recycled or reclaimed. That includes recycling inorganic construction materials, backfilling with inorganic material, cleaning soil so it can be used again, and preparing items for re-use.

The legal wording

Recycling/reclamation of other inorganic materials

The annex adds, in a footnote: This includes preparing for re-use, recycling of inorganic construction materials, recovery of inorganic materials in the form of backfilling, and soil cleaning resulting in recovery of the soil.

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

Recovery in the waste hierarchy

R5 is a recovery operation. The waste hierarchy ranks recovery above disposal, and a business that passes waste on has to take the reasonable steps open to it to follow that order.

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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