Duty of care
What is the waste duty of care?
The waste duty of care is the legal obligation on anyone who produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of waste to make sure it is handled properly and passed only to someone authorised to receive it.
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<img src="https://wasteoptix.co.uk/glossary/duty-of-care/diagram.svg" alt="waste duty of care — diagram from WasteOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://wasteoptix.co.uk/glossary/duty-of-care">What is the waste duty of care?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://wasteoptix.co.uk">WasteOptix</a>
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</figure>It follows the waste rather than stopping at the gate. A producer who hands waste to a carrier has not finished with it: the duty includes taking reasonable steps to check that the next person in the chain is authorised and that the waste will be dealt with properly.
It is evidenced by paperwork, which is why the transfer note exists. The document is not the duty — the duty is the care taken — but a transfer without a note leaves nothing showing that any care was taken at all.
It also covers how waste is stored and contained before it moves. Waste escaping from a skip or a bin store is a breach by whoever was keeping it, regardless of who eventually collects it.
What goes wrong in practice
- Accepting a carrier's word that they are registered without checking the public register.
- Waste described generically on the note, so nobody downstream knows what they have received.
- Storage that lets waste escape — uncovered skips, overfilled containers, bags left out in wind.
- Assuming the duty ends at collection, when it runs with the waste.