Duty of care
What is disposal?
Disposal is dealing with waste in a way that obtains nothing from it — principally landfill, and incineration without energy recovery. It is the last resort in the waste hierarchy.
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<figure>
<img src="https://wasteoptix.co.uk/glossary/disposal/diagram.svg" alt="disposal — diagram from WasteOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://wasteoptix.co.uk/glossary/disposal">What is disposal?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://wasteoptix.co.uk">WasteOptix</a>
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</figure>It is the option every other tier exists to avoid, and the one that carries the highest external cost. The tax regime is deliberately structured to make it the expensive choice.
Some waste genuinely has no higher option, which is why the tier exists rather than being prohibited. The requirement is to have applied the hierarchy, not to have reached the top of it.
Evidencing that the hierarchy was applied is the practical obligation. A declaration on a transfer note made without any consideration behind it is a false statement rather than a formality.
What goes wrong in practice
- The hierarchy declaration signed as boilerplate with nothing behind it.
- Material sent to disposal because segregating it was inconvenient rather than impossible.
- Disposal volumes reported without any breakdown of what they consist of.