HP2: Oxidising
Waste that gives off oxygen and so can cause or intensify the burning of other materials.
What HP2 means
HP2 covers waste that can cause or add to the burning of other materials, usually by giving off oxygen. An oxidising waste may not burn itself, but it makes a fire nearby worse.
How WM3 decides a waste is HP2
HP2 is decided by test, or the waste is assumed to be HP2. A waste that tests as H270, H271 or H272 is HP2. For oxidising gases, it can instead be calculated using the method in ISO 10156.
| Hazard statement | Hazard class |
|---|---|
| H270 | Oxidising gas, category 1 |
| H271 | Oxidising liquid or solid, category 1 |
| H272 | Oxidising liquid or solid, categories 2 and 3 |
Where the only oxidising substance has its own concentration limit in the GB mandatory classification list, a waste below that limit can be taken as not HP2. WM3's example is nitric acid, whose limit is 65%: waste nitric acid weaker than that isn't HP2. The shortcut doesn't hold if a second oxidising substance is present.
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 C2, pages C7 to C8
- 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.