Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery (SIC division 38)
Division 38 of the UK SIC 2007 list. It holds 5 codes, listed in full below with the number of active UK companies filed under each.
What sits in division 38
These are the companies that move and process the UK's rubbish. Waste collection, code 38110, is the biggest group. It covers skip hire firms, trade waste collectors and specialist clearance businesses. Code 38210 covers treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste, which means transfer stations and processing sites. Code 38320, recovery of sorted materials, holds recyclers of metals, plastics and paper. Hazardous waste has its own matching codes with fewer companies. Skip and grab hire firms make up a big share of the smaller entries.
Almost every business here runs trucks. Fleet sellers work the division constantly: vehicle finance, tracking and telematics, tipper and hook loader dealers, fuel cards and operator licence consultants. Recyclers draw commodity traders and equipment suppliers selling balers and shredders. Compliance is the other angle. Carriers need Environment Agency registration and sites need permits, so environmental consultants have steady demand. A new incorporation usually means a new skip firm, or a driver going out alone. Both need finance and insurance before the first collection. Growth signals here point straight at fleet expansion.
How to read a division 38 code
A UK SIC code is five digits and division 38 is the first two of them. Everything filed under 38 shares those digits: all 5 codes below begin 38, then the third digit narrows to a group, the fourth to a class and the fifth to the subclass a company actually picks. Division 38 sits inside section E, water supply, sewerage and waste management, which is the broadest tier of the classification. So a code is read left to right, from an industry down to a specific activity.
More on how division 38 codes are built
Companies choose their own codes at incorporation and can change them on any confirmation statement, and Companies House does not check the answer. A company may list up to four. That is worth knowing before you treat any division total as a headcount: the numbers here are what companies said about themselves, on the August 2026 register, and the largest single code in this division is 38110, collection of non-hazardous waste.
Working division 38 as a list
Division 38 holds 5 codes and 13,198 active companies between them. One code carries most of it: 38110 accounts for 50 per cent on its own, and the top three take 89 per cent, with the rest spread across the remaining 2 codes. Filtering by the whole division is therefore close to filtering by 38110 with a tail attached, so start from the code and widen only if the list runs dry.
More on working division 38
A caveat that matters more in some divisions than others: a company may register up to four SIC codes, and the figures below count every position, not just the first. A business filed under two codes in this division appears under both. Treat the totals as reach rather than a headcount, and if you need a clean list, filter to companies whose FIRST code sits in the division. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Every SIC code in division 38
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Division 38 questions
Does registering a waste SIC code mean the company holds a waste carrier licence?
No. The SIC code and waste carrier registration are separate systems. Anyone can incorporate with 38110 and hold no licence at all, and plenty do that before applying. Carriers register with the Environment Agency in England, or the equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Companies House record has no bearing on it. Check licences directly rather than guessing from a SIC code.
Should a skip hire company pick a waste code or a plant hire code?
Skip hire that collects and disposes of the contents is waste collection, so 38110 is the usual code. Renting out containers without touching the waste leans towards a rental code in division 77. Many firms list both to cover the mix. Companies House applies no test either way. Companies declare their own codes and change them freely on the confirmation statement.
Find companies across division 38
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