One thing that property-owners often disregard are their rubbish disposal duties. However, it is important to understand what makes rubbish disposal important, as well as the part you play in this process, in order to keep everything running smoothly. In the lines below, we talk about everything you’ve ever wanted to know about rubbish disposal, particularly what your duties are here.
What is duty of care?
In the United Kingdom, every homeowner has a legal obligation to ensure that their garbage is disposed of with all possible care. This is often referred to as duty of care, and should be taken seriously.
There are certain regulations in place, known as the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations, to ensure that waste is carried away from the property only by licensed waste carriers. This basically means that your rubbish can only be taken by someone holding an Environment Agency license, as a waste carrier.
Why is that important, who takes out your trash?
It might seem a tad silly to worry about who is taking your rubbish, but when you think about it for a second, it’s actually very logical. You see, when an illegal waste carrier takes away your rubbish, it is likely that they will charge you less than an accredited waste carrier, but also do a poorer job. In fact, it’s not uncommon for these illegal waste removal services to offer a low price, but then dump your rubbish in an unauthorized area, thus causing problems for the environment.
Why do illegal waste carriers dump, or “fly-tip” your garbage?
Yes, you might say, but why would they do that? Surely, if they take away rubbish, the least they can do is dump it correctly. Well you’d think so, but in order to dump rubbish in proper places, the waste removal company also needs to pay a fee of their own, which is often why accredited waste carriers tend to have higher prices than illegal ones.
Fly-tipping leads to pollution, and environmental damage, and can land both you and the illegal waste carriers in some serious legal trouble.
But wait, why is it your fault if the waste carriers fly-tip?
It is your duty, as mentioned above, to make sure that the person you give your waste to is licensed to take it. If part of your waste is discovered on an illegal dumping ground, you will be asked to provide information on the person you gave your rubbish to. If you can’t prove that you ensured they had a license for waste removal, then you risk a fine of up to 5,000 pounds, as well as a criminal record.
Don’t worry, if you are a householder disposing of your own garbage, you don’t need a license!
So what can you do?
You simply need to make sure your waste carriers are a licensed service. In order to do this, you will need to ask for proof, and details, record information about your waste carriers (such as the license plate), and even check online that they really are an accredited waste carrier service.
