Legal Update: Duty of Care and Registration of Waste Carriers/Brokers/Dealers

The Waste Duty of Care expects waste producers, amongst others, to be responsible for knowing where they are sending their waste and taking steps to ensure those they contract to collect and manage their waste, are operating legally and are taking their waste to legal disposal, treatment and recycling sites.

Duty of Care Applies to anyone who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste or has control of that waste (waste holder) You must take all reasonable steps to: prevent unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste (illegal waste sites, flytipping, import/export) Prevent a breach by any other person to meet the requirement to have an environmental permit, or a breach of permit condition Prevent the escape of waste from your control Ensure any person to whom you are transferring waste has the correct authorisation (registered carrier, broker, dealer) Provide an accurate description of the waste when it is transferred to another person Everyone has a role to play in reducing illegal waste activities. By taking responsibility for the waste we produce all the way to final reuse, recycling or disposal, we can all ensure that it doesn’t end up in the hands of illegal operators. Waste getting to the right place for recycling, treatment or disposal is everybody’s responsibility. If you: Produce Carry Export Keep Treat or Dispose of waste, you have a legal Duty of Care to ensure your waste is correctly handled by legal operators and sites.

Waste Holders Waste Producer Waste Carrier Dealer Broker   waste producer - any person who produces waste, this includes both private sector businesses such as shops, offices and factories and public sector services such as schools, hospitals and prisons, as well as waste transfer or treatment facilities that change the nature or composition of the waste waste carrier - any person, who normally and regularly collects, carries or transports waste in the course of any business or with a view to profit dealer - any person, business or organisation that has taken legal possession of waste as a result of buying and selling it or using an agent to do so broker - any person, business or organisation that arranges waste transportation and management of waste on behalf of another party (eg organisations contracting out waste collection services, for example local authorities, supermarkets and producer responsibility compliance schemes)

MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY (MRF) / TRANSFER STATION WASTE PRODUCER MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY (MRF) / TRANSFER STATION LANDFILL BROKER/DEALER TREATMENT INCINERATION CARRIER PERMITTED/EXEMPT

Duty of Care – Code of Practice Consultation on the revised Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice (July 2015) Consultation ran for 8 weeks – finished on 21st September 2015 Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice published on 11th March 2016 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/waste-duty-of-care-code-of-practice A Code of Practice is an authoritative statement of practice and differs from legislation in that it offers guidance rather than imposing requirements. The Code of Practice is admissible in evidence and courts must take it into account in legal proceedings where it is relevant to the issues of the case The purpose of the Code of Practice is to give simple, clear and practical guidance on what those who import, produce, carry, keep, treat or dispose of controlled waste have to do to fulfil their legal duty of care obligations

New Code of Practice

Other waste Laws for waste holders Hazardous Waste Regulations Producer Responsibility Regulations (packaging, EEE, batteries, ELVs) Separate Collections (paper, metal, plastic, glass) Landfill: waste acceptance, pre-treatment, landfill tax The ‘Loss on Ignition’ (LOI) testing regime was introduced on 1 April 2015 to improve compliance by helping prevent mis-description of waste fines for landfill tax purposes. If your landfill site accepts waste fines, you may need to carry out a loss on ignition test to help determine the rate of tax to pay. From 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016: if the LOI is 15% or less, the lower rate of £2.60 is charged if the LOI is more than 15% the standard rate of £82.60 is charged From 1 April 2016: if the LOI is 10% or less, the lower rate of £2.65 is charged if the LOI is more than 10% the standard rate of £84.40 is charged Landfill Tax rates – The standard and lower rates of Landfill Tax will increase in line with RPI, rounded to the nearest 5 pence, from 1 April 2017 and again from 1 April 2018. (Finance Bill 2016)

Provide an accurate description of waste When you transfer waste to another person you must: Provide a written description of the waste which is signed by you and the next holder This can either be electronic (edoc) or paper (waste transfer note). You must keep a copy of the description for: - 2 years for non-haz - 3 years for haz waste consignment notes - 6 years for a landfill operator for non- haz waste and for the lifetime of your permit for haz waste Waste hierarchy declaration Contains all the information to ensure the lawful and safe handling, transport, treatment, recovery or disposal by subsequent holders including: - the classification that applies to the waste - a description - quantity and nature - kind of container - time and place of transfer - The SIC code of the transferor - names and addresses and signatures of transferor and transferee WM3 – a guide on the classification and assessment of waste As part of your waste duty of care you must classify the waste your business produces:  before it is collected, disposed of or recovered  to identify the controls that apply to the movement of the waste  to complete waste documents and records  to identify suitably authorised waste management options  to prevent harm to people and the environment.

Everyone has a role to play in reducing illegal waste activities Everyone has a role to play in reducing illegal waste activities. By taking responsibility for the waste we produce all the way to final reuse, recycling or disposal, we can all ensure that it doesn’t end up in the hands of illegal operators. Waste getting to the right place for recycling, treatment or disposal is everybody’s responsibility. If you: Produce Carry Export Keep Treat or Dispose of waste, you have a legal Duty of Care to ensure your waste is correctly handled by legal operators and sites. .

Waste Carriers, Brokers and Dealers Registration is a legal requirement and it is an offence not to register when required. There are 2 levels of registration – upper tier and lower tier. They are based on organisation type or waste type and not on quantities of waste. You may still be required to register in the upper tier even if you only transport or deal in very small amounts of waste. If you arrange for waste from other businesses or organisations to be transported, disposed of or recovered, you need to register as a waste broker If you buy and sell waste, or use an agent to do so, you need to register as a waste dealer

Lower tier registration - who does this apply to? A charity/voluntary organisation A waste collection authority A waste disposal authority Only deals in animal by-products, waste from a mine or quarry, waste from agricultural premises Businesses that ‘normally and regularly’ carry their own non construction or demolition waste A lower tier registration is indefinite unless the EA revoke it or it is withdrawn It is free of charge If you use a waste contractor to take away the waste you have produced, and you never transport it yourself, you do not normally and regularly transport waste. If you normally employ a waste contractor but he lets you down and you take it away yourself on that one occasion, you still do not normally and regularly transport waste. If you always carry away your waste and do not use a contractor, then you do normally and regularly transport waste.

Upper tier Registrations If none of the lower tier criteria applies you need to register in the upper tier. The cost is £154 (VAT exempt) An upper tier registration lasts 3 years unless the EA revoke it or it is cancelled. Renewal for a further 3 years costs £105 (VAT exempt) Further details at: https://www.gov.uk/waste-carrier-or-broker-registration

right Waste, right Place The ‘Right Waste Right Place’ campaign aims to raise the profile and awareness of ‘Duty of Care’ requirements across a number of different waste producing business sectors. Better awareness of Duty of Care will not only help to tackle waste crime but can also lead to business benefits by encouraging companies to managing their waste more effectively. Launched on 12 April 2016 with some materials and website: http://www.rightwasterightplace.com/#intro

Duty of Care Not permit conditions – directly applicable legislations Not just about checking carriers registration Imposes duty of producers, brokers, dealers, carriers as well as disposal and treatment facilities

Industry led ‘right Waste, right Place’ Dedicated Website Downloadable content, interactive, videos/animation, case studies, links to third parties Best Practice guidance Easy to read, case studies, waste ‘top trumps’, downloadable, FAQs, leaflets, infographics and posters Build on Defra guidance Market research to gauge awareness of Duty of Care Utilising existing research as much as possible Campaign Press Office/Active Engagement Sustain media interest throughout the life of the campaign Strong digital element, use of social media, digital analysis to help quantify success of campaign Active engagement with waste producing sectors The campaign aims to deliver these products over the next year and will be launched next week on the 12 April. We are involved in steering the campaign and in the development of products. We will be updating materials constantly and are seeking ideas for case studies of good/bad practices we encounter

Land adjacent Lancaster farm, Longridge Before.... Reported by LA to EA Officers attended and quickly identified IWS on a field adjacent to Lancaster farm in Longridge hundreds of tonnes of waste wood. Door to door revealed who the offenders were in terms of the landowner and the waste carrier and that in turn led us to the producers who were a demolition company involved in the Whittingham Hospital demolition project. All parties were interviewed at site and admitted offences under section 33 and 34 – the demolition company admitted that they had not made any duty of care checks whatsoever that the carrier was registered and that the waste was going to a suitably permitted site. However, they were suitably horrified and chastised and cleared and remediated the site to.....

....and after UNCLASSIFIED .... this within 4 weeks at their own cost and hence in the end all parties were given written warnings/ advice and guidance. So using the Duty of Care and going back up the chain can be a powerful tool to getting the outcome you want without always having to serve s.59 Notices etc UNCLASSIFIED

See it – report it! If you suspect any of those illegal activities are happening in your area, report it. You can report suspected waste crimes anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling them or using their online reporting form. Every piece of information, no matter how small – helps us to build up our intelligence picture to stop these criminals and put them out of business. https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information-online/

Senior Environment officer Thank You Tessa Bowering Senior Environment officer Direct dial: 01258 483416 Tessa.bowering@environment-agency.gov.uk