Don’t fall foul of the law – make sure you use a legitimate disposal company

Householders who fail to check if a waste disposal company is legitimate before having their rubbish taken away could be hit with £400 on-the-spot fine if it is fly-tipped.

The Government is considering allowing councils to impose fixed penalty notices on those who fail to take reasonable measures to make sure a recycling business is registered to transport waste in a crackdown on illegal dumping.

But how does a householder know if a waste disposal company is legitimate? Simply every disposal company must have the following licences:

1. Waste Carriers Licence which authorises a company to transport waste; and
2. Waste Management Licence which authorises a company to process that waste and recycle it.

These licences should be available for a householder to inspect on the company’s website.

In 2016-2017, councils in England dealt with around one million fly-tipping incidents, up 7 percent on the previous year and costing taxpayers £57.5 million. A lot of these incidents is the result of householders using unauthorised companies.

Waltet strongly agrees with Therese Coffey, the environment minister, who said:”Fly-tipping blights our communities and we need determined action to tackle it. These new powers will curb the rise of waste sites that continue to operate outside the law”.

At Waltet you can be assured that we operate to the highest standards and have all the appropriate licences for every part of our business. To view our full set of licences click here.