Waste duty of care explained (Section 34)

Duty of care is the legal backbone under every waste move you make. It is short to explain and easy to break by accident. If you produce, carry or take in waste, it applies to you. Here is what it asks, and what happens if you fall short.

What is the duty of care?

The waste duty of care is set out in Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It is a legal duty on everyone in the waste chain to handle waste responsibly, from the moment it is produced to the moment it is finally dealt with.

Who it applies to

It covers anyone who produces, carries, keeps, treats, disposes of, or deals in or brokers controlled waste. So it covers the producer, the carrier and the site that takes the waste in. Households have a lighter version of the same duty.

What you must do

In practice the duty asks you to take reasonable steps to:

• Stop waste escaping. Store it safely and keep it contained.
• Only hand waste to someone allowed to take it, like a registered carrier or a permitted site.
• Send a written description with it: a transfer note for non-hazardous waste, or a consignment note for hazardous waste.
• Keep the records. Two years for a transfer note, three for a consignment note.

The authorised person check

This is the one carriers trip on. You must check that whoever you hand waste to is actually allowed to take it. If you give it to an unregistered carrier and they fly-tip it, the trail still leads back to you. Checking a carrier's registration takes a minute, and it is part of your duty.

What happens if you break it

Failing in your duty of care is a criminal offence with an unlimited fine. The Environment Agency enforces it, and a fixed penalty notice or a full prosecution can follow. It is one of the things an officer looks at during a site inspection.

Duty of care sounds heavy, but it comes down to common sense. Contain the waste, hand it to the right people, write down what it is, and keep the proof. Do that and you are covered.