All businesses need to be careful to ensure that they follow the rules, regulations and procedures in relation to any waste which they generate. The waste industry is strictly regulated to prevent pollution. Duty of care legislation ensures the authorities know what waste is being transported, who is transporting it and where to, ensuring the community and environment is protected. In particular:
- All businesses have a legal responsibility to store, transport and dispose of waste from the moment they produce it until it is in an authorised collection vehicle or properly left at a licensed disposal site
- All businesses must ensure their waste be collected and disposed of by a business that is authorised to deal with it, such as a licensed disposal site or a licensed waste carrier
- Waste carriers must hold a carrier’s registration and abide by the waste duty of care regulations.
- All businesses must provide a written description of the waste to the person or company who removes it. This is called a 'Waste Transfer Note' (WTN) and outlines where the waste originated from, who transported it and where it was taken. These must be completed by both parties involved in the transfer. WTNs are generally provided to the relevant business by their chosen waste contractor. You can use a season ticket to cover multiple transfers of non-hazardous waste over a period of up to a year. This is sometimes called an ‘annual waste transfer note’. Businesses can make their own season ticket by recording:
- The current holder of the waste
- The waste carrier
- The type of waste
- All of these must stay the same for the duration of the season ticket. If any of these details change, you must use a new season ticket or single WTN
- All businesses must keep WTNs for a minimum of two years
Failing to comply with the law in this regard is a criminal offence, and can have serious consequences. A County Durham man whose company collected and transported 25,000 tonnes of waste to unknown locations without a waste carrier’s registration will pay fines and costs totalling almost £10,000.
The court heard that his company collected and transported waste. As stated above, waste carriers must hold a carrier’s registration and abide by the waste duty of care regulations, but his registration had expired in July 2020. In September 2022, acting on information received, an EA officer attended a site in County Durham owned by a company of which this individual was a director, where it was suspected waste may have been illegally deposited. There was no evidence of this, but the officer made further enquiries, and during his investigation another business confirmed that the company had removed waste from two sites where they had been working.
WTNs confirmed that between September 2020 and September 2022 the company collected 170 loads of waste, totalling around 25,000 tonnes from two sites in Stockton-on-Tees and Birtley, Tyne and Wear, and were paid £157,963.71 to remove this waste. None of the 170 WTNs had information about where the waste was taken.
He failed to provide details of where the waste was taken to the EA, and as a result was fined £4,250 and ordered to pay £5,650 in costs and a victim surcharge.
There is useful government guidance available here (with appropriate links to the relevant guidance relevant in each of the 4 countries of the UK) setting out business’ obligations with regard to the waste they produce. Essentially any waste that comes from a commercial activity is considered to be business waste. If you use part of your home to run your business, then any waste from that part is business waste. Business waste also includes any waste that comes from:
- construction
- demolition
- industry
- agriculture
Different regulations and Agencies operate in different parts of the UK. For example, the rules in Wales changed earlier this year – https://www.fsb.org.uk/resources-page/workplace-recycling-is-changing-in-wales.html And the Circular Economy Bill, scheduled to be passed by the Scottish Parliament by the end of June, will change business waste reporting and monitoring requirements north of the border. In Northern Ireland, government has recently consulted on a series of waste management and circular economy proposals. FSB has advocated for new regulations to be phased in over time, ensuring different types of small businesses are incentivised, enabled and protected.
You must register as a waste carrier if you want to dispose of your own waste regularly. You can apply to:
Depending on what you’re doing, you may also need to apply for a waste permit.
For more, see FSB’s Legal Hub.