Waste Carrier's Licence - Are You Aware?

[ricky36]

it was a white van which said environmental agency.

 

Ricky, upon researching, it does not appear that we are exempt - it would only apply if we were moving materials within oyur own premises from one area to another - NOT carrying waste materials from a customers house to dispose of - it does not only apply to hazardous waste.

 

it only takes a phone call to apply for exemption and it costs nothing have you done that. on the facts I supplied yesterday self employed fence erector if I had pursued it further they would have issued me a exemption immediately

[sally_sheff]

unofrtunately Ricky, you are wrong. I have made a phone call, done my research - ANY business removing ANY waste from another person's property has to be registered (charities may be an exemption). Thanks for trying and taking an interest anyway (I will let yu know the outcome!)

[Rockford]

Extract from Environmental and Planning Services Directorate

Bridgend County Borough Council

 

Duty of Care for Businesses

Under the Duty of Care Regulations 1991, anyone transferring waste is required to complete and retain a transfer note containing a written description of that waste. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has provided statutory guidance on the completion of the duty of care transfer note in waste management, the duty of care: a code of practice

 

What are the penalties?

Breach of the duty of care is an offence, with penalties of upto £5000 upon summary conviction or an unlimited fine upon conviction on indictment.

 

Duty of Care for Housholders

The waste (Household Waste) Duty of Care (England & Wales) Regulations 2005 which came into force on 21 November 2005 places a new duty of care on householders to take reasonable measures to ensure that their household waste produced on their property is transferred only to an authorised person. This could affect you if, for example, you have hired builders, gardeners or scrap metal merchants who take materials away from your house. If these materials get fly-tipped, you can now be held responsible and are liable to get fined.

 

How can I make sure my waste is disposed of correctly?

If you've hired contractors such as builders, tradesmen, landscape gardeners, house clearers or scrap metal merchants etc, who are removing waste items from your property, these people will normally need a waste carrier registration.

 

Ask your contractor if they're a registered waste carrier and ask for their waste carrier number. If your contractor is not registered, you should refuse their services and request they seek advice from the Environment Agency.

 

How do I know if a carrier is registered or not?

Anyone removing waste from your household should be licensed with the Environment Agency. This can be checked by contacting them on 08708 506 506 and requesting an instant waste carrier validation check or by checking online through their website on their waste carrier register

 

What are the penalties?

If fly-tipped waste is traced back to your property you can be fined up to £5,000 in a Magistrates Court.

 

 

 

There are various other publications on the net, and the environment agency has a comprehensive summary along with a list of exemptions - I couldn't find any that would fit your situation, other than if your husband was planning on chipping the timber.

 

I'm aware of (but don't pretend to fully understand them) the regulations through newletters from my local chamber of commerce. If one of my jobs creates waste, then a skip is figured into the quote. Any small amount of waste I leave down to the customer to dispose of.

[sally_sheff]

Rockford, thanks for clarifying that.

 

We have now applied for the carriers licence - we are just upset that we are being hit with a summons for something we knew nothing about - I think a warning that we should obtain one, would have been more appropriate, given that many ar not aware of it - if there was some publicity to make people aware of their obligations then I am sure most would comply. I would hate others to get caught out in this situation.

[amyg]

Ive just left the Ea at christmas and am very familiar with waste carrier licences and exemptions. (i was in the waste team)

Sally you are spot on, he needs to register.

The key thing is who created the waste .the law says that

the person who decided the fence needed replacing (the customer in your case) created the waste , even though your partner did the physical act of removing and transporting it.

 

There are some grey areas, for instance the empty bags of cement, the off cuts of new fence, the pallets on which the new stuff was delivered, this was waste which the contractor created, and he can move this without being a waste carrier.

 

If your business managed property and they decided the fences needed replacing (on the properties they controlled) they wouldnt need to register.

 

the only waste carrier exemtions are for things like charities ( kerbside collections)

 

The exemptions that were mentioned previously are used for handling waste. two types: simple and complex

simple ones ,lots of them, mostly free, from the one you need to burn waste to storing waste electrical equipment.

 

complex ,expensive things like re using waste hardcore to scrap metal recovery.

 

youre right it is never publicised enough.

 

Its not just the waste carrier licence to watch out for either , alot of businesses briefly research things and misunderstand or dismiss things, even if a business is licensed to carry waste you usually cant just take it back to the yard and process it. thats all business gardeners , plumbers, pc repairs, scrap men, (thats what the exemptions are for or in some case waste management licence)

 

sally you were the type of customer i used to really feel for -genuinely innocent of the rules.

Please be careful of other people advising on what they really dont understand, i dont profess to know it all and i worked there, ask the Env... agency if they say you dont need it, ask them to email that answer.!!

hope that helps

[sally_sheff]

thanks for your advice. We have already sent application in to register. Like I said, if we had known, we would not have avoided registering for the sake of £144 for three years. We are responsible both in our household and business waste and would NEVER dump rubbish. It is just unfortunate that we were not aware of the need for a licence - I do not know what we will get fined but I feel it is unjust that we were not even given a warning and the opporunity to immediately apply for one. If the Environmental Agency want co-operation of the general public then I think their attitude has to change, by way of publicising and educating people, not penalising them for something they knew nothing about. The same applies in respect of householders - the poll, up to now, clearly demonstrates that people are ignorant of their obligations.

 

Anyway, now we know, we are now rectifying the situation and hope that we are not treat too harshly.

[Cyclone]

Rockford, thanks for clarifying that.

 

We have now applied for the carriers licence - we are just upset that we are being hit with a summons for something we knew nothing about - I think a warning that we should obtain one, would have been more appropriate, given that many ar not aware of it - if there was some publicity to make people aware of their obligations then I am sure most would comply. I would hate others to get caught out in this situation.

 

If you have to go to court to defend this then surely you should argue that what you were transporting was not waste as there was no intention to dispose of it. It appears that the law only applies to waste, not to recovered materials.

[sally_sheff]

It would be difficult to argue this as it was old fencing that was removed which had been replaced by new fencing, therefore, it would be considered as waste.

 

How many householders allow tradesmen to take away their waste without giving it a second thought? If a householder DOES let an unscrupulous trader take away their waste and they fly tip then the householder is open to a huge fine.

 

This is something we have NEVER done - it is absolute TABOO - we have always used a private tip where everything is recycled but we are still faced with this situation.

 

I think the onus is on the environment agency to make public these obligations.

 

The fact that we were ignorant of our obligations is our only defence but I think this will fall on deaf ears!

[Cyclone]

Ignorance is never a defence unfortunately. But it's unlikely that a magistrate would wish to impose a harsh penalty when there was no evidence that you intended to fly tip.

 

On the part of home owners proving a lack of due diligence would be very hard for the EPA. They may claim that DD is satisfied by asking if the tradesman is registered, but I could argue that it's satisfied by using a reputable registered company and I doubt they'd win on that score.

[amyg]

Telling them that you are Carrying items destined for recovery , recycling does not count im afraid.

Even selling things doesnt stop it being waste.

 

However, The ea have lost some court cases when big business challenged "waste" and its definition and this forced them to bring in something called the waste (quality) protocol.

In short if you put certain wastes (wood, oil,compost, concrete, tyres and a few others) through a uniform control processes this fully recovers it a turns it into a product free of the waste regs.

 

 

http://www.aggregain.org.uk/quality/quality_protocols/index.html

 

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waste/1019330/1334884/1713670/?lang=_e