Part I of COPA 1974 applied to waste on land and required licensing of all sites used for the disposal or treatment of controlled (i.e. household, industrial or commercial) waste. Since COPA 1974, there have been a number of UK Acts of parliament and EU Directives concerning waste handling.

Under EPA 1990 (s.75 (2) waste is defined as:
  a) Any substance, which constitutes a scrap material or an effluent or other, unwanted surplus  substance from the application of any process.
  b) Any substance or article which requires to be disposed of a being broken, worn out, contaminated  or otherwise spoiled.

The list below gives the Controlled and other waste classifications:
CLASSIFICATIONS OF CONTROLLED WASTE:

• Controlled waste.
• Household.
• Commercial.
• Demolition/Construction.
• Dredged spoils.
• Industrial.
• Blast furnace and steel slag.
• Power station ash.
• Other.
• Sewage sludge.
• Not controlled waste.
• Agriculture.
• Mining and quarrying.
• Colliery and slate.
• China clay.
• Quarrying.

• Household.
• Commercial.
• Industrial.