Duty Of Care - Your Waste, Your Responsibility
By admin on Jun 13, 2007 in Business Waste, Business
All waste that is generated during the activities of your business is regulated by law. This is known as your Duty of Care. This article explains your responsibilities with regards to waste, and the potential consequences for not adhering to these responsibilities.
Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 imposes a duty of care on anyone who is a holder of ”controlled waste”. Controlled waste is a very broad term which includes commercial, industrial and also household wastes. The duty of care applies to any person who produces, imports, carries, keeps treats or disposes of controlled waste.
So what does this actually mean?
In basic terms, this means that as a business you must ensure that any waste you produce is dealt with safely and in accordance to the law. When passing waste on to other companies, such as a waste contractor, scrap merchant, recycler or skip hire company, you must make sure they are actually authorised to take the waste. If they are not authorised and your waste is illegally disposed of, you may be held responsible for breaching your duty of care.
When transferring waste to any business or person, you are required to complete and retain a Waste Transfer Note containing an accurate written description of the waste. This creates a ’cradle to grave’ audit trail so that waste can be traced back to the producer of the waste, or traced forward to the disposal point.
What are the penalties?
Breach of the Duty of Care is an offence, with a penalty of up to £5000 on summary conviction or an unlimited fine on conviction on indictment.
Duty of Care Checklist
- Make sure the company collecting your waste has a valid waste management licence or waste carriers licence. The waste management licence number and/or waste carriers licence number should be displayed on the Waste Transfer Notes.
- Ask your waste company for a copy of their licence(s). Alternatively you can check their details on the Environment Agency website here.
- Make sure you receive a Waste Transfer Note whenever waste is collected from your premises or passed on to another company.
- Make sure the Waste Transfer Note contains an accurate description of the waste being transferred.
