Construction industry
Your responsibilities
Any waste that you produce at work is your responsibility under the waste duty of care to ensure it is safely and correctly handled.
Your work produces construction and demolition waste of varying types, some of which will need special treatment because they are hazardous, for example asbestos.
Your site waste remains your responsibility even if it’s dumped by someone you pass it to for disposal. This could result in you being fined up to £50,000 or facing jail.
A simple guide to know how to handle your construction and demolition site waste legally
The best way to handle your site waste is to minimise the amount you have in the first place. Be careful to buy only the materials you need, and reuse were possible. Then follow these steps specifically written for your construction industry to enable you to remove your site waste correctly, safely, and legally.
Step 1. Identify and label your waste types
• Different waste types need different treatments. You can check how to
categorise your waste here
• Check if your waste is hazardous as different rules will apply here.
Step 2. Arrange your waste collection service
• As a small or medium sized business (SME), you may be able to remove the
waste yourself. If you do that, you must be registered as a waste carrier with
the Environment Agency. Register here
• If you need to or prefer to ask a waste collector to take your site waste away,
you must check they have a current waste carriers registration from the
Environment Agency. Check here
Step 3. Check your site waste is going to the right place
• Check your waste carrier is taking your waste to a site that is legally allowed to
deal with the type of waste you are giving them. If you are taking your own site
waste for disposal, you also need to check first.
Step 4. Keep records of the waste that leaves your site
• Make sure you complete a waste transfer note (keep it for 2 years) or a
consignment note for hazardous waste (keep it for 3 years). These record what
and how much waste you hand over and where it is going to.
Follow these four simple steps and you will have met your legal waste duty of care.
Reporting waste crime
Waste crime is dealt with in accordance with size, scale, environmental impact and who’s involved.
The Environment Agency is responsible for dealing with large scale waste crime. This looks like more than a lorry load of waste. Signs that you could be witnessing waste crime include:
- increased numbers of lorries entering a site
- drastic increases in waste stored on sites in a short period of time
- activity out of hours
- waste going in but not coming out
- smoke
- water pollution
- machinery operating like excavators, dust, noise and increased site work
You can report these types of waste crime and those you believe are involved to our
partner, Crimestoppers. 100% anonymous. Always. 0800 555 111 or online.
Local councils are responsible for dealing with small scale waste crimes, such as fly-tipping. They also have powers to fine unregistered waste carriers, to investigate and deal with statutory nuisance and waste issues, such as someone burning waste in their garden impacting their neighbour and noise and dust nuisance from waste activities. You can report these types of waste crime on the Council's Website
In addition, local councils share responsibility with the Environment Agency for some medium scale waste crimes such as illegal dumping, disposal, treatment and burning.