Householders should check whether a person or business is authorised to take waste before they transfer their waste to them; because residents who fail to take all reasonable measures to ensure they transfer waste to authorised carriers could face fixed penalty notices (FPNs) of £200. This is under the Environmental Protection (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England and Wales) Regulations 2018, which came into effect on January 7.
An authorised person is one of the following:
Someone who has a valid registration as a carrier, broker or dealer of waste issued by the Environment Agency.
A waste management operator who has an environmental permit or registered exemption to accept such waste issued by the Environment Agency.
The duty of care requirement equates to the householder asking the person or business they transfer their waste to (or who arranges the transfer) for evidence of their authorisation, such as a copy of their waste carriers registration or proof of their exemption registration.
Householders can also use the Environment Agency public register to check any evidence of registration provided to them online –
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/access-the-public-register-for-environmental-information
– or by telephone (03708 506 506).
A decision on whether to issue a FPN or take an offender to court will be made on a case-by-case basis, against Crown Prosecutors’ guidance. If a FPN is issued and a resident does not pay it for whatever reason, the matter will be referred to the magistrates’ court for summonses to be issued.
Barbara Dring, Chair of Birmingham City Council’s Licensing and Public Protection Committee, said: “We intend to use the new powers available to councils to create policies and regulations that address local wishes and concerns. We know the top priority for the people of Birmingham is clean streets – and hope that the risk of a fixed penalty notice makes citizens think very carefully about how they dispose of their waste.
“When residents utilise the services of firms that offer to take their waste away after they have done something like a spring clean or DIY work, the law now makes it very clear there is a duty upon them to take all reasonable measures in the circumstances to ensure that they only transfer household waste produced on that property to an authorised person.”
