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Commercial waste is any waste produced from a school, hospital, residential or nursing home, factory or any other trade business such as an office or a shop.
When you have waste, you must stop it escaping from your control. You must store it safely and securely. You must prevent it from causing harm to the environment or harming anyone.
Step1
Make it secure. Keep it in a suitable container. If you put loose waste in a skip or lorry, cover it.
Step 2
You must only pass your waste onto someone else if they have authority to take it. Most waste carriers have to be registered with the Environment Agency. To be sure that you are giving waste to a registered carrier, look at the carrier's certificate of registration or check with the Environment Agency's Public Register.
You can take your business waste to certain local authority civic amenity sites which are authorised to receive such waste. However, there are no such sites in the Babergh district.
If you take it to a site outside the Babergh district, you will be charged and a transfer note should be issued for you to keep.
Step 3
When waste is passed from one person to another, the person taking the waste must have a written description of it. A transfer note must also be filled in and signed by both persons involved in the transfer. You can write the description of the waste on the transfer note. Who provides the transfer note is not important as long as it contains the right information. The waste transfer note must include:
- the type and quantity of waste, including the European Waste Catalogue Number, which can be found on the Environment Agency's website
- what sort of container it is in
- the date and time the waste is transferred
- where the transfer took place
- the names and addresses of both persons involved in the transfer
- whether the person transferring the waste is the importer or the producer of the waste
- details of which category of authorised person each one is. If the waste is passed to someone for authorised transport purposes, you must say which of those purposes applies
- if either or both persons is a registered waste carrier, the certificate number and the name of the regional office of the Environment Agency which issued it
- if either or both persons has a waste management licence, the licence number and the name of the regional office of the Environment Agency which issued it
- the reasons for any exemption from the requirement to register or have a licence
- where appropriate, the name and address of any broker involved in the transfer of waste
Repeated transfers of the same kind of waste between the same parties can sometimes be covered by one transfer note for up to a year. Waste transfer notes must be kept for 2 years and be made available for inspection upon request by the Council or the Environment Agency.
We want to work with you to ensure waste arrangements are legal. Babergh District Council routinely inspects businesses to offer advice and to check they are complying with the law, but remember, it is a criminal offence to:
- fly-tip
- use an unregistered waste carrier
- transfer commercial waste without creating a waste transfer note
- fail to keep waste transfer notes for at least 2 years
- fail to contain your waste to prevent its escape
For a first offence of failing to keep or produce records of waste transfer, you may have to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice of up to £300. You may be prosecuted in the Magistrates Court for a variety of offences and face fines of up to £50,000 or 12 months in prison. Serious offences may be dealt with at Crown Court, which can impose an unlimited fine and/or 2 years in prison.
If you suspect that someone is breaking the law, do not give waste to or take waste from them. If you think someone may be acting illegally or you would just like further advice regarding your business waste, please either contact the Environment Agency on 08708 506 506 or email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk, or, call the Council's Environmental Protection team on 01473 826622 or email environmental.protection@babergh.gov.uk
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