Waste Duty of Care: Your Legal Responsibilities as a Waste Producer
GOV.UK guidance sets out the duty of care obligations that apply to anyone who produces, imports, carries, keeps, treats, or disposes of controlled waste.
Analysis
Duty of care is the cornerstone of waste regulation in England. Every construction contractor who generates waste on a site is legally a waste producer and bears a statutory duty of care for that waste until it reaches a licensed facility. This means: checking that carriers are licensed, ensuring waste is accurately described and classified, obtaining a written waste transfer note for each movement, and keeping those notes for at least two years. Failure to comply is a criminal offence, not just a civil one. The Environment Agency can issue fixed penalty notices of £300 or prosecute, with unlimited fines on conviction. Digital waste tracking systems make duty of care compliance straightforward — every log entry creates the required record automatically.
Key points
- →Duty of care applies to every waste producer, not just carriers or processors
- →Written waste transfer note required for every movement of controlled waste
- →Records must be kept for a minimum of two years and produced on EA request
- →Carriers must be EA-registered — producer's responsibility to verify
- →Criminal liability for duty of care breaches — unlimited fines on prosecution
GOV.UK · DEFRA — read the primary source for full detail.
Read on GOV.UK ↗- ✓Every movement log creates a compliant digital waste transfer record automatically
- ✓Carrier licence check embedded in the logging flow — no separate step required
- ✓Records stored securely for as long as you need them — well beyond the 2-year minimum
- ✓EA-ready audit trail available instantly for any inspection or enforcement enquiry
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