Duty of Care

All business in the UK regardless of their size must comply with Section 34 of the 'Duty of Care' provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Act requires you as a business to take reasonable measures to prevent unauthorised deposit, treatment and disposal of your waste.

This means that if you operate a business you must:

  • ensure that a person or company that collects your waste is a registered waste carrier.
  • describe the waste you are having collected, how it is packed – whether loose or in a container and if it is in a container what type (a container can be a plastic sack).
  • have a waste transfer note that the carrier issues containing the description of the waste collected for disposal or recycling (the waste transfer note can be issued for each collection or issued annually).
  • know where your waste will finally be disposed of and retain your waste transfer note for 2 years.
  • if you ‘self-dispose’ of your waste you must be able to say where and how.

Environmental Obligations

As waste recycling and the protection of the environment is becoming a greater global issue it becomes more important that waste producers are seen to be using "Best practical environmental options" when choosing an outlet for their waste. Here at Hopkinson Waste Management all waste is subject to rigorous recycling. Therefore you can rest assured that if we deal with your waste an unbroken audit trail has been established and the highest possible recovery targets are achieved.
     

From 16th July this year, most landfill sites will no longer be permitted to accept hazardous wastes (including special wastes)

From this date, the landfill directive bans the practice of co- disposal (whereby hazardous and non-hazardous material are disposed together) at all landfill sites. Landfill Operators have therefore decided to operate each site as either a hazardous waste landfill or a non- hazardous waste landfill.

We are very aware of the European Union Landfill Directive- are you?

We ask this question because there will be an associate cost of compliance which in these cases will be born ultimately by you. In the most basic terms the EU landfill directive sets reducing targets for the amount of material which can be landfilled. Although these targets are spread over twenty years they will begin to have a marked impact this year. We can help you with compliance.
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