The duty does not transfer with the waste
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 everyone who produces waste has a duty of care over it. The central point, and the one people miss, is that the duty does not end when somebody drives the waste away. You remain responsible for ensuring it was passed to somebody authorised to take it.
That is why fly-tipping cases regularly end with a penalty for the householder or business whose waste it was, rather than only for the person who dumped it. Investigators go through fly-tipped material looking for anything with a name and an address on it, and an envelope is usually enough.
The defence is simple and it is the only one: you checked that the person taking it was a registered waste carrier, and you can show it.
Householders: what you must do
Householders have a lighter duty than businesses but it is a real one. You must take reasonable steps to ensure your waste is only transferred to an authorised person.
In practice that means one check. Anyone who takes waste from you as a business must be registered with the Environment Agency as a waste carrier, and the register is public and searchable by anyone. Ask for the registration number, look it up, and note it down with the date and what you handed over.
Failing to do that is a householder duty of care offence, and councils in England can issue a fixed penalty notice for it. Prosecution is possible for more serious cases.
The warning signs are consistent. An offer to take waste cheaply, made door to door or through a social media post, with no paperwork, cash only, and an unmarked van with no visible registration or company details. If somebody will not give you a carrier registration number, they are not someone whose price you should be comparing.
Businesses: the written record
A business producing waste has the same duty plus a documentation requirement. Every transfer of non-hazardous waste must be covered by a waste transfer note, and both parties keep a copy for at least two years.
The note records what the waste is, how much, how it is contained, who handed it over and who took it, the date and place, and the relevant waste classification code. It can cover a series of repeated collections of the same waste over up to a year, usually called a season ticket, rather than requiring a separate note each time.
Hazardous waste works differently. It uses consignment notes rather than transfer notes, and those must be kept for three years.
The documentation is not a formality. In an enforcement investigation it is the evidence that discharges the duty, and a business that cannot produce it is a business that has not met its obligations regardless of what it actually did.
What to check before anyone loads a vehicle
A short checklist
- Ask for the waste carrier registration number and check it on the public Environment Agency register.
- Check that the name on the registration matches the business you are actually dealing with.
- Ask where the waste is going, naming the transfer station or facility.
- For a business, confirm you will receive a waste transfer note and keep it for two years.
- For a householder, note the carrier details, the date and what was taken, and keep it.
- Be wary of cash-only offers with no paperwork, and remember that paying cash for scrap metal is prohibited outright in England.
If your waste is fly-tipped
Report it to the council, which has enforcement responsibility for most fly-tipping, and tell them immediately that you believe the material is yours and who you gave it to.
Produce everything you have: the carrier registration number you checked, any transfer note, the date, what was taken and the contact details of whoever collected it. Coming forward with that record is a far stronger position than being traced through an envelope weeks later.