HP14: Ecotoxic
Waste that presents a risk to the environment. Contaminated soils and waste oils often have it.
What HP14 means
HP14 covers waste that harms, or may harm, the environment, now or later. WM3 decides it by calculation, and the calculation weights the most harmful substances heavily, so small amounts in a soil can be enough.
The four HP14 tests
A waste is HP14 if it meets any one of these:
| Test | Makes the waste HP14 |
|---|---|
| 1. Any one H420 substance (harms the ozone layer) | 0.1% or more |
| 2. All H400 substances added up | 25% or more |
| 3. 100 × (H410 total) + 10 × (H411 total) + (H412 total) | 25% or more |
| 4. H410, H411, H412 and H413 totals added together | 25% or more |
Cut-offs: an H400 or H410 substance below 0.1%, or an H411, H412 or H413 substance below 1%, is left out of that sum. A substance with two statements can count in one test and not another.
The multipliers in test 3 are why small amounts matter. In WM3's worked example, a soil with 0.16% lead sulphate, 0.18% zinc oxide and 1.25% hydrocarbons scores 46.5% on test 3, so it's HP14 and coded 17 05 03*, though it scores only 0.34% on test 2.
Where you're likely to meet it
- Soil from a contaminated site, as in WM3's worked example.
- Waste oils, generally HP14. For oil whose identity isn't known, total petroleum hydrocarbons of 2.5% or more make the waste HP14.
- Unleaded petrol, typically HP14 among other properties.
What it changes when the waste moves
A waste needs only one hazardous property to be hazardous waste. In England and Wales it then moves on a hazardous waste consignment note in place of a waste transfer note, and the note goes with the load to the site that receives it.
On Digital Waste Tracking, the site that receives a hazardous load records its HP codes alongside the EWC code (the six-digit code from the List of Wastes that says what a waste is).
Sources
- WM3: Waste classification technical guidance (v1.2.GB): Appendix C14, pages C47 to C50; worked example, pages 20 to 26; oils, pages 28 to 29
- Annex III to the Waste Framework Directive (HP1 to HP15)
- GOV.UK: Hazardous waste consignment notes
- The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026: the paragraphs on hazardous properties and POPs, 15 and 16
This page explains the rules. Check the waste itself against WM3 before it moves.
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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.