Duty of care for businesses

As a business, you have a duty to ensure any waste you produce is handled safely and within the law; this is your duty of care. It applies to anyone who produces, imports, transports, stores, treats or disposes of controlled waste from business or industry. You must ensure:

• You store and dispose of all your waste responsibly. You have to prevent the waste from escaping your control. You must prevent it from causing pollution or harm to anyone.
• Your waste is only handled or dealt with by people or businesses authorised to do so; they must have a waste carriers licence. If you do not check they are authorised to take your waste and it is illegally disposed of, you could be held responsible.
• You must be able to produce waste transfer notes (a record of who produced the waste, what the waste was, where the waste was from and who collected it) when requested to. A copy of these notes must be kept for a minimum of two years.

Failure to produce waste transfer notes on request can result in a Fixed Penalty Notice of £300 and possible prosecution.

If in the course of your business you move other people’s waste you will need to register with the Environment Agency as a Waste Carrier.

Burning of Waste
In order to remain compliant with your duty of care, commercial waste must not be burnt unless you have an exemption certificate or permit from the Environment Agency.

The only waste you can burn in the open (on a bonfire), with a D7 waste exemption from the Environment Agency, is waste plant tissue or untreated wood at the place where it is produced. You must ensure you comply with exemption conditions and do not cause a Statutory Nuisance.

If the burning of waste on a bonfire or in an appliance on an industrial or trade premises produces dark smoke, this is a separate offence under the Clean Air Act 1993.

For further information and guidance, please visit the GOV.UK website.