How to check a waste carrier registration

An Environment Agency registration number for a carrier, broker or dealer starts with CBD, followed by a letter and a run of digits — for example CBDU followed by six figures. The letter indicates the registration type, not the quality of the business.

The number belongs to a legal entity, not to a vehicle or a driver. A collector operating five lorries has one registration covering all of them, so asking to see a number on the side of a van proves nothing on its own.

Upper tier registration is the one required of a business that carries, brokers or deals in other people's controlled waste as a normal part of its trade. It has to be renewed, and it expires. Almost every scrap tyre collector operating commercially should hold one.

Lower tier registration covers narrower cases — a business carrying only its own waste, or specific exempt categories such as certain charities and waste collection authorities. Lower tier registration does not expire in the way upper tier does. If a business collecting your tyres holds only a lower tier registration, that is worth asking about.

The Environment Agency publishes the register itself, and it is the authoritative copy. This site holds a nightly synced copy of that register so you can search it quickly by name or number, but where anything matters, check the Environment Agency's own version. Registrations change daily and a very recent change may not have reached our copy yet.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales operate their own registers through NIEA, SEPA and Natural Resources Wales respectively. The Environment Agency register covers England.