You are legally responsible for ensuring that waste your business produces or handles is stored, transported, treated, reprocessed and disposed of safely. This is your duty of care.
The duty of care has no time limit. You are specifically responsible for your waste from when you produce it until you have transferred it to an authorised person. However if you think that your waste is not being managed correctly you must take action to check and prevent this.
You must keep records of all transfers of your waste.
If you produce or handle waste with hazardous properties, you will also have to comply with the hazardous/special waste regulations.
Hazardous/special waste
What types of waste are not covered by the duty of care?
The duty of care applies to controlled waste which includes household, commercial and industrial waste. Waste types that are not covered by the duty of care include:
- radioactive materials
- some animal by-products
- explosive waste.
These wastes are all covered by other regulations. You must still use authorised carriers and sites to transport and dispose of them. For further information see our guidance on radioactive substances and wastes and animal by-products and food waste.
Explosives
You cannot send explosives to landfill and disposal methods such as dumping at sea are now banned. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has produced guidance on disposing of explosive waste.
HSE: Explosives - disposal
HSENI: Code of Practice and Guidance document on Manufacture and Storage of Explosives in Northern Ireland (Adobe PDF - 1.69 MB)
Extractive waste
England and Wales
Extractive waste is waste produced by mining and quarrying.
If you produce or manage extractive waste you must do everything reasonable to prevent anyone from depositing, treating, disposing of or managing it:
- without an environmental permit
- in breach of a condition of an environmental permit, or
- so that it could cause pollution or harm to human health.
You must also ensure your extractive waste stays under your control or the control of anyone else who handles it.
If you mix extractive waste with other controlled waste you will need to comply with additional duty of care obligations. For example, you will need to use waste transfer notes when you transfer your waste to another person.
Mining and quarrying
Working at private households
If your business carries out work at private households any waste you produce is classed as business waste and you must treat it as such. This includes waste items you collect when you deliver new items.
If you transport construction or demolition waste you produced at private households you must be registered as a waste carrier.
Waste carriers, brokers and dealers
Home-based businesses
If your business is home-based any waste you produce from your business activities is classed as business waste. You must keep it separate from your household waste and complete waste transfer notes when it is collected or disposed of.
Waste records – waste transfer notes
Further information on the duty of care
England, Scotland and Wales
Defra: Duty of care summary leaflet (Adobe PDF - 160KB)
Northern Ireland
NIEA: Duty of care code of practice (Adobe PDF - 179 KB)
In this guideline:
What is the duty of care?
Who is allowed to deal with your waste?
Records for transfering waste - waste transfer notes
Storing waste
Transporting and disposing of waste
Duty of care further information
Duty of care legislation
