Your machinery or electrical equipment business waste responsibilities
Your business will produce waste and you have a responsibility to ensure that you produce, store, transport and dispose of it without harming the environment. This is called your duty of care.
Your machinery or electrical and electronic equipment business may store or transport a variety of waste, including:
- waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as electrical components that are faulty or cannot be repaired
- adhesives
- coatings
- solvents
- scrap metal
- waste oil
- oily rags.
Read our guidance on:
Waste electrical and electronic equipment
Scrap metal
Oil and chemical storage
What you must do
Comply with your duty of care
The duty of care applies to controlled waste. Controlled waste includes commercial, industrial and household waste, as well as hazardous/special waste, agricultural, construction and demolition waste.
You must make sure that you only pass waste to someone who is authorised to take it. If you do not check, and the person you have passed your waste to disposes of it illegally, you could be held responsible, prosecuted and fined.
You must keep records of all transfers of your waste.
The duty of care has no time limit. You are specifically responsible for your waste from when you produce it until you have transferred it to an authorised person. However, if you think that your waste is not being managed correctly you must take action to check and prevent this.
Apply the waste management hierarchy
In England, Northern Ireland and Wales you must apply the waste management hierarchy when you transfer waste. This means you must have reduced your waste production and then consider reusing, recycling or recovering the remaining waste before deciding to dispose of it. You should also apply the waste management hierarchy in Scotland, as it will help you to reduce your waste.
Find guidance on using the waste hierarchy in:
England on Business Link: Choosing a waste management option
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Choosing a waste management option
Scotland on Business Gateway: Choosing a waste management option
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Choosing a waste management option
In England and Wales if you have an environmental permit for an operation which generates waste, you will have to apply the waste management hierarchy. In Northern Ireland, if you have a waste management licence for an operation which generates waste, you will have to apply with waste management hierarchy. This will be a condition of new permits and licences, and will be added to existing permits and licences when they are reviewed.
Use an authorised waste carrier
If your waste is collected by a waste carrier, or if you use a broker or dealer, you must check that they are registered or exempt from registration. If you do not check and keep proof of this you could be held responsible if your waste is disposed of illegally, for example by fly-tipping.
See our guidance on who can deal with your waste in:
England on Business Link: Who can deal with your waste?
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Who can deal with your waste?
Scotland on Business Gateway: Who can deal with your waste?
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Who can deal with your waste?
Anyone who
recycles, treats, stores, reprocesses or disposes of your waste must have:
- an environmental permit (England and Wales)
- a waste management licence or pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit (Northern Ireland and Scotland)
- a registered exemption from permitting for your type of waste and what they do with it.
Use our waste directory to find licensed recycling and waste disposal sites in your area.
You can check your environmental regulator’s register of carriers and brokers to see if a carrier is registered.
Environment Agency: Your right to know - public registers
Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA): Public register
SEPA: Who is registered?
If you are in any doubt about someone’s authority to carry your waste you must contact your environmental regulator
Contact your environmental regulator
Use waste transfer notes
You must complete a waste transfer note (WTN) for every load of waste you pass to others. This will include a detailed description of the waste.
You may be able to use a ‘season ticket’ if you have regular collections of waste of the same type by a waste carrier. This is one transfer note covering a series of transfers over a year, for example weekly collections of waste from shops or commercial premises or multiple lorry trips to remove a large heap of waste.
A WTN shows carriers and site operators who handle your waste what they are handling. WTNs also ensure that there is a clear audit trail for the waste from when it is produced until it is disposed of.
A WTN must be completed and signed by both the person sending the waste and the person collecting it.
You must keep copies of all your WTNs for at least two years and be able to produce them on demand to your environmental regulator or local council, or you could be fined.
Pre-treat waste for landfill
You must make sure that your waste is treated before it goes to a landfill site. This applies to most types of waste. You can either treat your waste yourself or make sure that a later holder of the waste will treat it before they send it to a landfill site.
For more information see our guidance on landfill in:
England on Business Link: Operating your landfill site
Scotland on Business Gateway: Operating your landfill site
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Operating your landfill site
Follow hazardous or special waste controls
Waste that is potentially harmful to humans and the environment is known as hazardous waste in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and special waste in Scotland.
Most businesses produce some hazardous or special waste. Examples include some types of batteries, fluorescent tubes, computer monitors and certain paints.
You must:
- always keep hazardous or special waste separate from other waste
- store hazardous or special waste in sealed, labelled containers
- use designated, secure, labelled, waterproof containment areas to store hazardous or special waste
- bund containment areas for hazardous or special waste by building a secondary barrier around the main containment area to hold hazardous or special waste if the containers (eg drums) leak
- use a consignment note when hazardous waste is moved and keep copies of consignment notes for three years.
See our guidance on hazardous/special waste in:
England on Business Link: Managing your hazardous waste
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Managing your hazardous waste
Scotland on Business Gateway: Managing your hazardous waste
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Managing your hazardous waste
Some types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are classed as hazardous/special waste.
See our guidance on WEEE in:
England on Business Link: Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
Scotland on Business Gateway: Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
If your business produces, distributes or sells electrical or electronic equipment you may need to comply with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations. See our WEEE guidance.
If you collect, treat, dismantle, reprocess, recycle or dispose of any waste materials yourself, you must have an environmental permit (England and Wales) or waste management licence (Northern Ireland and Scotland) or register an exemption.
In England, Northern Ireland and Wales you can currently take most waste produced by your own business, other than construction or demolition waste, directly to an authorised waste management site or recycling facility without registering as a waste carrier.
You must register with your environmental regulator as a waste carrier or broker if you:
- transport your own construction or demolition waste
- handle, transport, recycle or dispose of any waste on behalf of another business.
In England and Wales, you will have to register with the Environment Agency as a lower tier waste carrier by the end of December 2013 if you normally and regularly carry your own business waste. In Northern Ireland you will have to register with the NIEA as a lower tier carrier by the end of December 2013 if you normally and regularly carry your own business waste.
In Scotland if you normally and regularly transport waste produced by your own business, you must register with SEPA as a professional collector or transporter of waste. This is a new requirement for businesses. If you transport your own construction or demolition waste you must usually register as a waste carrier. You will soon be able to register online. SEPA recommends you delay your registration until the online system is available. If you need to register sooner, download the application form from the SEPA website.
SEPA: Application form to register as a professional collector or transporter of waste (Adobe PDF - 54KB)
See our guidance on waste carriers, brokers and dealers in:
England on Business Link: Waste carriers, brokers and dealers
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Waste carriers, brokers and dealers
Scotland on Business Gateway: Waste carriers, brokers and dealers
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Waste carriers, brokers and dealers
