Businesses’ Duty of Care

Legal Duty

Business waste and recycling is not funded through Business Rates.

All businesses have a Duty of Care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to take all reasonable steps to arrange for the legal disposal of their waste.

This Duty applies to waste:

• Of any nature, associated with your business.
• From your business premises, a work place or even a residential property.

You are legally obliged to dispose of your business waste safely and this usually involves entering into a Trade Waste Agreement with a licensed contractor.

Duty of Care and waste transfer documents

Your contractor will supply you with copies of the Duty of Care and waste transfer documents.  Keep these in a safe place as you could be asked to produce them by the Council or the Environment Agency to prove that you are disposing of your waste legally.

You can check that your contractor is a registered waste carrier by calling the Environment Agency on 08708 506506 and requesting a waste carrier validation check or you can check this online.

Remember your Duty of Care and have a look at our tips below:

• Reduce or re-use the rubbish that your business produces;
• Recycle as much as you possibly can;
• Arrange a collection for your commercial waste with a licensed carrier;
• Contain your waste in sacks or wheeled bins;
• Store your waste in a safe place within your premises until your collection day;
• Do not put your rubbish out before 7am on your collection day and only in Trade Waste Bags or with Trade Waste Labels on;
• Do not dispose of business waste in public recycling banks;
• Do not dispose of business waste at the Household Waste Recycling Centre;
• Do not take your business waste home, you must not dispose of it with your household rubbish or recyclables.

E-mail:

environmental.health
@thanet.gov.uk 

Tel: 01843 577580

Fax: 01843 290906