Since October 2007, the Landfill Directive was changed in order to reduce the amount of waste delivered to landfill sites.
As a business, you have a duty to ensure that 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.
Typically, any untreated waste that is currently being collected from your site will be treated by your waste collection service, which you pay for. You can reduce this cost by separating and recycling your waste wherever possible.
The government has issued guidelines for non-hazardous waste that businesses must now follow.
In short, you must ensure that:
- You store and dispose of all your waste responsibly
- Your waste is only handled or dealt with by people or businesses that are authorised to do so
- You keep records of all waste that you transfer or receive for at least two years
You also have a responsibility to:
- Stop anyone storing, disposing of or recovering your waste unless they have a waste management licence or an exemption from the need for a licence.
- Package all waste materials appropriately and robustly to stop them escaping from your, or anyone else’s, control.
- Ensure that your waste is only transferred to a person or business authorised to deal with your particular type of waste.
- Ensure that the waste being transferred is accompanied by a written description that will enable anyone receiving it to dispose of it or handle it safely and appropriately.
For full details, you can click here to find out more from the Government’s website.
To look at the Environment Agency’s details on Business Waste, please click here.