If you pay someone to take your rubbish away and it ends up dumped by the roadside, you can be held responsible. Here is how to check a collector before you hand anything over.
Your duty of care
Under the waste duty of care rules, householders must take reasonable steps to make sure their waste is only given to someone registered to carry it. If your waste is fly-tipped and traced back to you, you can be fined or prosecuted, even if you paid for it to be taken away properly.
The 30-second check
- Ask the collector for their waste carrier registration number. In England it usually starts with CBDU or CBDL.
- Search it on the Environment Agency public register of waste carriers, or call the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506.
- Check the name on the register matches the person or business you are paying, and that the registration has not expired.
Before they load the van
- Ask where the waste is going. A proper answer names a licensed site or tip, not “I’ll sort it”.
- Ask for a receipt or waste transfer note with their name and registration number.
- Note the vehicle registration.
- Be wary of offers that are far cheaper than everyone else, or of people knocking on doors offering to take rubbish for cash.
Our registration
Transform Property is a registered upper tier waste carrier with the Environment Agency, registration CBDU647852. You are welcome to check it on the register before booking. Every collection comes with a waste transfer note, and waste goes to licensed sites only.
