Waste Management Licensing — Decision or Registration
Waste management activities in Georgia are regulated by the Waste Management Code and, depending on the scale and type of the activity, fall into one of two administrative forms: the environmental decision and registration. On this page you will learn which activity requires which form, where the boundaries run in tonnes, and how the transboundary movement of waste is regulated.
This distinction directly affects time and cost: the environmental decision means a full administrative procedure, while registration is a light form for small scale operations. Knowing the thresholds precisely determines the regime in which you declare your activity and how quickly you can start operating.
The Sphere of the Environmental Decision
Of the activities related to waste processing, those provided for by the Environmental Assessment Code are subject to the environmental decision. In other words, the circle of relevant activities is not listed in the Waste Management Code itself — it is determined by the Environmental Assessment Code, and the waste field supplements that circle with additional requirements.
The list of documents to be submitted, and the requirements for their content, are determined by the Waste Management Code, the Environmental Assessment Code and the subordinate acts issued on their basis. An important possibility applies: a person carrying out more than one such activity where the activities are substantially connected is entitled to request a single environmental decision — and from 1 September 2026 this format continues as a single environmental decision or integrated environmental permit, with the integrated permit covering activities provided for by the Law of Georgia on Industrial Emissions. For large sites combining several operations, this single-instrument option materially reduces administrative burden.
The Sphere of Registration — Thresholds in Tonnes
The following waste management activities are subject to registration: the collection or transportation of waste; the construction and operation of a temporary storage facility for more than 50 tonnes of non hazardous waste; the pre processing of up to 100 tonnes per year of non hazardous waste; the construction and operation of a temporary storage facility for not less than 2 and not more than 10 tonnes of hazardous waste; the construction and operation of a waste transfer station; the recovery or disposal of up to 10 tonnes per year of non hazardous waste; and the waste management activity provided for by the relevant annex to the Environmental Assessment Code which, on the basis of a screening decision, was not subjected to the environmental impact assessment procedure.
The tonnage thresholds are the dividing lines: pre processing of up to 100 tonnes per year fits within registration, while a volume exceeding that threshold requires the environmental decision; the registration corridor for temporary storage of hazardous waste runs from 2 to 10 tonnes. The procedure and conditions of registration are determined by a resolution of the Government of Georgia — the details of the procedure therefore stand in an administrative act and should be verified before applying.