The short version
- T11 — a registered exemption for repairing, refurbishing or dismantling waste electricals so they or their parts can be reused (England and Wales). It has limits, and it doesn’t allow shredding.
- ATF — an authorised treatment facility: any site licensed or permitted to treat waste electricals. In practice this usually means an environmental permit.
- AATF — an ATF that the regulator has also approved to issue evidence notes for the producer recycling system. Approval runs one calendar year at a time.
None of them says anything by itself about data security — for that, see data wiping and destruction standards.
The T11 exemption (England and Wales)
A T11 lets a business repair, refurbish or take apart waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) so that the item, or its parts, can be reused, or so that dismantled parts can be recovered elsewhere. The intended activity is sorting incoming equipment, repairing what can be repaired and taking the rest apart for parts. The limit is 1,000 tonnes stored or treated in any 12 months, and it covers some hazardous WEEE as well as non-hazardous WEEE.
A T11 does not allow:
- shredding, granulating or compacting — so a T11 on its own doesn’t cover shredding hard drives that are waste
- removing gases from fridges (CFCs or HCFCs)
- treating WEEE for landfill or incineration
- mixing hazardous waste
- fluorescent tubes
- repairing equipment containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for reuse.
There are conditions too, including an impermeable surface, weatherproof cover, suitable containers for batteries, and following the government’s “appropriate measures” guidance.
T11 is the only waste exemption with a fee, and a registration lasts three years. On the Environment Agency’s register every current T11 has a number starting EXP/. The free exemptions have numbers starting WEX, and none of those includes T11 — so if a company quotes “T11, WEX…”, it’s worth asking which registration that really is. There were 698 current T11 registrations in England on 7 October 2026. Natural Resources Wales keeps a separate T11 register.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
- Scotland: since 1 November 2025, storing and treating up to 35 tonnes of WEEE at any one time by repair, refurbishment or dismantling needs an EASR registration with SEPA (standard conditions EASR-SC-033), with a fit-and-proper-person test and a written management system. Larger operations need an EASR permit.
- Northern Ireland: repair, refurbishment and storage of WEEE can be carried out under a paragraph 49 exemption registered with the NIEA and renewed every 12 months, up to 5 tonnes a day. Treating more needs a waste management licence or a PPC permit.
ATFs and environmental permits
An authorised treatment facility (ATF) is any facility that treats WEEE and is licensed or permitted to do so — usually with an environmental permit (a waste management licence or EASR authorisation in Scotland), or under a registered exemption such as a T11.
On the Environment Agency register, WEEE treatment permits appear with site types such as “A28 WEEE Treatment Site”, or the standard rules for a WEEE authorised treatment facility. Many ITAD companies instead hold bespoke permits under other site types, such as transfer stations or physical treatment facilities — so a missing “WEEE” label doesn’t prove anything. Look at what the permit covers.
AATFs and evidence notes
An approved ATF (AATF) is an ATF that the regulator has also approved to issue evidence notes — the official proof that a tonnage of WEEE has been treated, which producer compliance schemes use to show that producers met their recycling obligations.
- Approval runs from 1 January to 31 December and must be applied for each year.
- AATFs report tonnages every quarter and keep records for four years.
- They must meet recovery and recycling targets: for IT and telecoms equipment (category 3), 80% recovery and 70% recycling.
- The regulator can suspend or cancel an approval.
An AATF can issue evidence only on WEEE that came from, or is handled for, a compliance scheme it has a direct contract with, and only if it is the first AATF to receive it. WEEE an ITAD company collects directly from a business outside that system is “non-obligated”, and no evidence notes can be issued on it.
Being an AATF is a specific regulatory approval. It isn’t the same as having a permit, and it doesn’t by itself say anything about data security. Many good ITAD companies aren’t AATFs and send waste on to one.
How to check a licence
- AATFs: the four public lists, from the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA and DAERA/NIEA. The regulators don’t publish which WEEE categories each AATF is approved for.
- T11 and other exemptions: the Environment Agency exemptions register for England, and the NRW T11 register for Wales.
- Permits: the Environment Agency waste operations register for England, the SEPA public register for Scotland and the NIEA public registers for Northern Ireland.
On Green ITAD, licences we have found on these registers carry a solid verified badge with the date we checked. See companies with a T11, an AATF approval or a WEEE treatment permit.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Waste exemption T11 — repairing or refurbishing WEEE, updated 3 Feb 2026
- WEEE Regulations 2013, regulation 2 (definitions)
- GOV.UK: WEEE reuse and treatment, updated 29 Sep 2026
- GOV.UK: WEEE evidence and national protocols guidance, updated 15 Jul 2026
- SEPA: WEEE less than or equal to 35 tonnes (EASR)
- NetRegs: Repairing, refurbishing and storing WEEE
- Natural Resources Wales: T11 exemptions public register
- Environment Agency public register (waste exemptions), checked 7 Oct 2026
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — check with the regulator or an adviser for your situation.