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Duty of care: what the law asks of everyone in the chain

2 November 2026 · CarrierNote

The waste duty of care is a legal duty on every business that handles waste. Each one has to look after the waste and pass it only to someone allowed to take it. In England and Wales it comes from section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It covers anyone who produces, imports, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste (the law's term for household, industrial and commercial waste). Dealers and brokers who control waste are covered too.

Each business in the chain has to take reasonable steps to stop the waste being dumped or handled illegally, and to keep it from escaping. When it hands the waste on, the business receiving it must be authorised, and a written description of the waste goes with it. For most loads that description is the waste transfer note, and both sides keep it for at least two years.

Who the duty covers

DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) explains the duty in its waste duty of care code of practice. The code calls everyone the duty covers a waste holder, and it names the main kinds.

  • Producers make the waste. That includes shops and tradespeople, charities and public bodies.
  • Carriers normally and regularly collect or transport waste as part of their business. That includes businesses moving their own waste.
  • Dealers buy waste and sell it on, even if they never touch it.
  • Brokers arrange for someone else's waste to be moved or dealt with.

The sites that sort, treat, recover or dispose of waste are holders too. The duty applies to each of you while the waste is yours, and it carries through to the hand-over.

What it asks of each holder

Keep the waste under control

You have to stop the waste escaping while you hold it. The code asks for labelled containers that suit the waste, stored where access is limited. On the road, that means a load that can't blow or spill off the van.

Hand it only to an authorised person

Section 34 lists who counts as authorised. The list includes the council's waste collection service and a registered waste carrier. A site with an environmental permit (the licence a waste site gets from the regulator) counts. So does a business with a registered exemption, which covers some smaller, lower-risk waste activities.

The code expects you to check, and the public registers are where you do it. In England that's the Environment Agency's register, and in Wales it's Natural Resources Wales. A carrier also has to show proof of its registration when a police officer or an officer from the regulator asks for it. Failing to do that without a good reason is an offence under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989.

Describe the waste in writing

The written description has to give the next holder enough to handle the waste safely and lawfully. For non-hazardous waste it's the waste transfer note, with the waste's EWC code (the six-digit number that says what a waste is), the quantity, both parties' details and both signatures. Our post on what must be on a waste transfer note goes through every item.

Hazardous waste travels on a consignment note, which most holders keep for three years. Our post on hazardous waste consignment notes covers how that works.

What each part of the chain checks

The producer's main check is the carrier. The code tells a business handing waste over to confirm the carrier is registered. GOV.UK's guidance adds that the producer mustn't let its carrier dispose of the waste illegally.

The carrier holds the waste on the road, so it keeps the load contained and keeps its own signed copy of the note. At the end of the journey, the same duty means tipping only at a site whose permit or exemption covers that waste.

A receiving site checks from the other end. The code asks it to make sure the load matches its written description and that its permit allows it to accept the waste. If the site suspects an earlier holder broke the duty, the code says to refuse the load.

Whoever you are in the chain, the code's advice when something looks wrong is the same. Don't hand the waste over or take it in, and report it to the regulator.

Householders have a lighter duty

People clearing waste from their own home have a narrower duty. Section 34 asks them to take reasonable steps to give their household waste only to an authorised person. They don't need a transfer note, and the code says they're under no legal duty to keep records.

This affects you if you collect from households. A householder who checks the register before booking you is doing what the law asks. In England, a householder who hands waste to an unauthorised carrier can get a fixed penalty notice from the council or the Environment Agency. That's a set fine that settles the matter out of court.

What happens if the duty is broken

Breaking the duty of care is a criminal offence, and the courts have no upper limit on the fine they can give. For some breaches, such as failing to produce a transfer note when asked, an officer can give a fixed penalty notice. Paying it on time means no prosecution for that breach.

What's changing

Two changes are under way, and the duty itself stays in place through both.

In England, waste carrier, broker and dealer registrations are due to move onto environmental permits. The regulations were made in 2026. Under the government's plan, a carrier with an upper-tier registration (the kind renewed every three years) applies for a permit at its next renewal. Keep an eye on the Environment Agency's guidance as the new system starts.

Digital Waste Tracking is DEFRA's online service for recording waste movements. Receiving sites in England and Wales have logged every load on it since October 2026, and Scotland and Northern Ireland follow in January 2027. Carriers, brokers and dealers join in October 2027. During the move to digital records the duty of care carries on as before, with its transfer notes and its two-year keeping period. Our post do you still need a waste transfer note after Digital Waste Tracking? covers that in more detail.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

This post follows the rules in England and Wales. Scotland has its own version of section 34 and its own duty of care regulations from 2014. Northern Ireland has its own regulations from 2013. If your waste moves in either nation, check the guidance from SEPA (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency) or NIEA (the Northern Ireland Environment Agency).

CarrierNote records each collection on a phone at the kerbside, and whoever hands the waste over signs the note on the screen before the van moves. The app won't save a record that's missing a carrier registration number unless you give the reason it has none. It keeps every record for as long as the law requires. See how capture works at carriernote.co.uk/product.

Sources

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