What is the EWC code for a scrap car?

An end of life vehicle that still contains its fluids or other hazardous components is hazardous waste, code 16 01 04*. Once it has been fully depolluted it becomes non-hazardous, code 16 01 06. Those are the only two codes for the vehicle itself, from the Environment Agency guidance Vehicle and oily wastes: how to classify.

What does the asterisk on a waste code mean?

The asterisk marks the entry as hazardous waste. Hazardous waste has its own storage, paperwork and carrier rules, so 16 01 04* and 16 01 06 are not two labels for the same thing. They put the same shell under two different sets of law.

When can an end of life vehicle be classified 16 01 06?

Only when it contains neither liquids nor other hazardous components. In practice that means full depollution: battery out, fuel, oils, coolant and brake fluid drained, air bags deployed or removed, and the other steps in Schedule 5 of the ELV Regulations. A car with a dry sump but a full tank is still 16 01 04*.

What is the waste code for a car battery or a catalytic converter?

Lead acid car batteries are 16 06 01*, hazardous. Catalytic converters are 16 01 21*, or 16 01 22 for those that do not contain refractory ceramic fibres. Tyres are 16 01 03, oil filters 16 01 07*, brake fluids 16 01 13*, and drained engine oils are always hazardous under chapter 13 02.

What code goes on the Defra digital waste tracking receipt?

The receipt describes the load as it arrived. A vehicle that comes through the gate un-depolluted is reported as 16 01 04*, and depolluting it later does not change that record, because the record is about what you received. The reclassification to 16 01 06 lives in your site records and travels with the shell when it leaves.

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26 August 2026

16 01 04 or 16 01 06: the waste code for a scrap car, and what flips it

Every waste transfer note, every consignment note and every digital waste tracking record asks for a waste code. For the car itself there are only two possible answers, and depollution is the thing that flips one to the other. Here are both, plus the codes for everything that comes out of the car, all from the Environment Agency's own classification guidance.

The two codes for the vehicle

The EA guidance Vehicle and oily wastes: how to classify gives an end of life vehicle exactly two entries. Un-depolluted, it is hazardous waste, code 16 01 04*. Fully depolluted, it is non-hazardous, code 16 01 06, defined in the List of Waste as containing neither liquids nor other hazardous components. The asterisk is not decoration. It marks the entry as hazardous, and hazardous waste carries its own storage, carrier and paperwork rules.

That is why the code matters in the yard and not just on paper. An un-depolluted ELV must sit on an impermeable surface with sealed drainage. A fully depolluted shell may sit on ordinary hardstanding. The code also decides which document travels when the shell leaves: hazardous movements need a consignment note, non-hazardous a transfer note. Writing 16 01 06 on a load that still has fuel in the tank is not a shortcut. It is a misclassification of hazardous waste.

What flips the code

Full depollution, nothing less. Schedule 5 of the ELV Regulations lists the operations: remove the battery and any liquefied gas tank, remove or neutralise explosive components including air bags, drain and separately store the fuel, engine oil, transmission and gearbox oil, hydraulic oil, coolant, antifreeze and brake fluid, and remove mercury-containing components where feasible. A car with the oil drained but the fuel still in is 16 01 04*. An electric car with everything drained but the high-voltage pack still in is 16 01 04*. The code changes when the last hazardous item comes out, and your depollution record is the evidence it did.

The codes for what comes out of the car

Depollution does not make the hazard disappear. It moves it into containers, and each of those containers has its own code from the same EA guidance.

Waste codes for end of life vehicle wastes, EA classification guidance, checked 26 August 2026
Waste	Status	Code
Vehicle, un-depolluted	Hazardous	16 01 04*
Vehicle, depolluted	Non-hazardous	16 01 06
Petrol	Hazardous	13 07 02*
Fuel oil and diesel	Hazardous	13 07 01*
Engine, gear and lubricating oils	Hazardous	13 02 04* to 13 02 08*
Oil filters	Hazardous	16 01 07*
Brake fluids	Hazardous	16 01 13*
Antifreeze with hazardous substances	Hazardous	16 01 14*
Antifreeze without	Non-hazardous	16 01 15
Lead acid batteries	Hazardous	16 06 01*
Catalytic converters	Hazardous	16 01 21*
Catalytic converters, no ceramic fibres	Non-hazardous	16 01 22
Air bags, explosive components	Hazardous	16 01 10*
Components containing mercury	Hazardous	16 01 08*
Tyres	Non-hazardous	16 01 03
Ferrous metal	Non-hazardous	16 01 17
Non-ferrous metal	Non-hazardous	16 01 18
Plastic	Non-hazardous	16 01 19
Vehicle glass	Non-hazardous	16 01 20

Which code the Defra receipt carries

From 1 October the digital waste tracking record describes each load as it was received. A car arriving un-depolluted from a collector or the public is received as hazardous waste, so its receipt says 16 01 04*, and depolluting it next week does not change that record, because the record is about what arrived. A shell arriving already depolluted from another ATF is received as 16 01 06. The reclassification of a vehicle you depollute yourself lives in your own site records, and it is those records your permit inspection reads.

What BreakerHQ does with all this

Nothing you have to remember. The gate never asks for a code. Book a vehicle in and the Defra receipt carries 16 01 04* automatically. Work through the depollution checklist on the vehicle screen and the moment the last step is ticked the record reclassifies the shell to 16 01 06 in the same tap, with the evidence and the timestamp attached. The right code, on the right document, without anyone at the gate ever typing one.

Get set up before October