Most people assume that once their rubbish is on someone else’s vehicle, it is someone else’s problem. The law says otherwise. Every household and every business in England has a duty of care for its waste, and if that waste ends up dumped at the side of a road, the person who handed it over can be held responsible.
What the duty of care says
The duty of care comes from the Environmental Protection Act 1990. For businesses it has applied for decades, and since 2005 it has applied to householders too. In plain terms, you must take reasonable steps to make sure your waste is passed to someone who is authorised to carry it.
If you hand your waste to an unregistered collector and it is fly-tipped, you can face a fixed penalty or prosecution, even though you did not dump it yourself. Councils do trace fly-tipped waste back to the address it came from.
How to check a waste carrier
- Ask for their registration details. A licensed waste carrier should give you their registration number without hesitation.
- Check the public register. In England, the Environment Agency keeps a public register of waste carriers, brokers and dealers that anyone can search online.
- Get it in writing. Ask for a receipt that shows who took the waste, what it was and when. Businesses must complete a waste transfer note for each transfer and keep it for two years.
Warning signs
Be wary of anyone who knocks on the door offering to take rubbish away, who will only take cash, who cannot give you a business address or registration details, or whose price seems far too low to cover the cost of disposing of the waste properly. Disposal costs money, and someone who is not paying it is usually dumping it.
How we handle it
Absolute Waste & Hire is a licensed waste carrier. When we clear a job, we load the waste onto our own vehicle and take it away, and you are welcome to ask for our registration details before we start. If you have a clearance coming up, see our waste clearance service or call 07301 880665 for a free quote.