Duty of Care Compliant

As a business, you have a duty to ensure that any waste you produce is handled safely and within the law. This is YOUR ‘Duty of Care’ and it applies to anyone who produces, imports, transports, stores, treats or disposes of controlled waste from business or industry.

All commercial and industrial (including hazardous) wastes are classified as ‘controlled waste’. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that anyone you pass your waste on to for disposal is legally authorised to take it. If you don’t check that the company you hire to carry out your waste disposal requirements are legally authorised to take it and the waste is subsequently illegally disposed of, YOU COULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE AND END UP BEING FINED OR EVEN IMPRISONED.

People you may pass your waste onto include:

  • Waste Contractors (such as MacNabb Bros Waste Management)
  • Scrap Metal Merchants
  • Recycling Companies (such as MacNabb Bros Waste Management)
  • Your local Council
  • Skip Hire companies (such as MacNabb Bros Waste Management)

MacNabb Bros Waste Management Ltd is fully compliant with Duty of Care requirements.

DON’T TAKE THE RISK! IT’S NOT WORTH IT!

Duty of care – what do you have to do?

You must ensure that:

  • you store and dispose of all your waste responsibly
  • your waste is only handled or dealt with by people or businesses that are legally authorised to do so
  • you keep records of all waste that you transfer or receive for at least two years.

You have a responsibility to:

  • Stop anyone storing, disposing of or recovering your waste unless they have a waste management licence or an exemption. Check their licence or exemption to make sure that they are within its conditions.
  • Package all waste materials appropriately and robustly to stop them escaping from your, or anyone else’s, control.
  • Ensure that your waste is only transferred to a person or business authorised to deal with your particular type of waste.
  • Ensure that the waste being transferred is accompanied by a description that will enable anyone receiving it to dispose of it or handle it safely and appropriately.

Storing and disposing of your waste responsibly

If your waste is not handled or stored properly, it has the potential to pollute the environment.

Storing waste

It is your responsibility to ensure that all waste materials are stored safely and securely in suitable containers (wheeled bins, skips, bottle banks etc) or other methods of storage such as in bales. MacNabb Bros Waste Management can advise you through your free waste audit on the best storage options for your business.

Ensure that any containers you use are in good condition.

You must ensure that waste materials cannot blow away and that pollutants cannot leak from the waste into the ground. If you store waste in skips or other similar containers, ensure that they are covered or netted where necessary to prevent loose and lightweight material from blowing away. Consider storing wastes under cover before you dispose of them.

Please ensure that your storage facilities are secure against vandalism or other outside interference as you are responsible for any pollution caused by materials that originate from your site.

Handling waste

Give all employees and contractors working on your premises instructions about how to handle and dispose of each type of waste that might be produced (MacNabb Bros Waste Management will help you with this). Regularly check that your employees and contractors are following these instructions. Once again, you are responsible for the actions of your employees.