Waste duty of care explained

For waste producers, facilities managers, environmental managers and inspection firms handling waste transfer evidence and hazardous waste records. It is UK-focused and not legal advice.

Anyone who produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of waste has a duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to handle it responsibly and document it correctly.

What the duty of care requires

Store waste safely and securely
Transfer it only to an authorised person
Classify and describe it accurately
Complete a waste transfer or consignment note
Keep records available to the regulator

Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste must be correctly classified, stored and moved under a consignment note, with records kept and any required returns made to the regulator.

How long to keep records

Duty-of-care transfer notes must be kept for at least two years, and hazardous waste consignment notes for at least three years, available to the regulator on request.

Waste compliance on CertFlow

CertFlow holds your waste assets, generates the transfer and consignment paperwork, and keeps the duty-of-care chain complete and exportable.

Common mistakes

Not checking whether the carrier and receiving site are authorised.

Using vague waste descriptions that do not match the actual waste stream.

Mixing hazardous and non-hazardous waste or losing segregation evidence.

Missing transfer or consignment notes from the audit trail.

Keeping records by contractor rather than by site, stream and collection date.

Records to keep

Waste transfer notes and hazardous waste consignment notes.

Waste descriptions, EWC codes and hazardous classification evidence.

Carrier registration and receiving-site permit or exemption checks.

Collection schedules, container checks and storage inspection records.

Non-conformance, rejected load, spill or incident records.