It is the duty of any holder of controlled waste to ensure that waste is only ever transferred to an authorised person and for practical purposes this is:
For Collection and Transport: waste must be transferred to a Registered Waste Carrier i.e. a carrier registered with the Environment Agency (in England and Wales), SEPA (in Scotland) or EANI (in Northern Ireland) to transport waste. Inclusion on the register does not guarantee the carrier's suitability to accept any particular type of waste. Waste carriers should be able to prove that they are registered by producing an original certificate or an authorised copy certificate. A photocopy of a certificate is not valid. Carriers Registrations are only valid for 3 years and so it is important when checking a carrier registration certificate that you check the expiry date.
For Transfer, Treatment or Disposal: Waste may be transferred to a person holding a Waste Management Licence (which includes relevant environmental and pollution prevention and control permits) that permits them to accept the type of waste you are transferring.
As Waste Management Licences are modified from time to time, waste producers should obtain copies of relevant licences from third party disposal facilities on an annual basis in order to check they can still accept the same types of wastes.
The obligation to check a person's authority also applies to those receiving wastes, e.g. a landfill operator receiving waste from a carrier. There are exemptions from the requirement to hold a waste management license for certain activities, such as small scale recycling, but these are subject to limits and conditions and must be registered with the Environment Agency.
Where an organisation acts as a broker, i.e. arranging for the transfer of waste between two parties, then the broker shares the responsibility for the proper transfer of the waste with the two holders involved.
