J&B Recycling Knowledge

When transporting any waste type, it is a business’s crucial duty to ensure that all parties involved with the transfer of this waste, have the correct environmental permit and licence types. Ensuring this is the most important way to show that your business has fulfilled its environmental duty. Also, failing to comply with this could result in prosecution for those involved. The purpose of a business holding a Waste Carriers Licence when moving of waste, is to ensure that any of this movement does not in any way, negatively impact the government. As stated by the Environmental Permitting Guidance for the Environment Permitting Regulations 2010:

‘In Practice, this means that the regulator will ensure, where a permit is granted, that permit conditions achieve the objectives and intended outcomes of any of the directives or national policy which apply.”

Should a business want to transport other people’s controlled waste, or their own construction and demolition waste, they would need to register for a waste carriers licence. Householders moving their own waste or businesses moving waste within a premises are not required to register as waste carriers.

If your business carries waste or carries demolition and building waste that the business itself has generated, you should be registered as an Upper Tier carrier. If your business has previously been exempt from a waste carriers licence and the business carries waste on a normal or regular basis, this would be classed as a Lower Tier carrier. This means that regardless of the type of business you operate, if you carry waste on more than just the occasional trip to a disposal site, you must be registered.

What's an Environmental Permit?

In order to receive or dispose of waste, an Environmental Permit may be required. You may need to apply to the Environment Agency for an environmental permit if your business uses, recycles, treats, stores or disposes of waste or mining waste. This permit can be for activities at one site or for mobile plant that can be used at many sites.

If you are carrying out a waste activity, you can meet the permit requirement using one of the following:

• a ‘regulatory position statement’ – the Environment Agency does not currently require a permit for that activity
• an ‘exemption’ – you do not need a permit for the activity, but you must still register your exemption with the Environment Agency
• a ‘standard rules permit’ – a set of fixed rules for common activities
• a ‘bespoke permit’ – tailored to your business activities

What is a Waste Transfer Note and why do I need one?

A waste transfer note is a requirement every time your business plans to move waste. It is also needed by a business to receive the waste and to then dispose of it. The transfer note contains all of the relevant information that all parties involved needs to safely handle and move the waste responsibly. This Waste Transfer note should include:

• What you wish to dispose of
• The quantity of the waste
• Who produced the waste
• Who the waste carrier is and where it is going.

On your waste transfer note, the two permits outlined previously are required here. The first being the Waste Carrier Licence, referring to the company who transports the waste to the receiver. The second is the Environmental permit, this has to be given to the company who will be accepting your waste, for example, this would be J&B Recycling. It must also include the permit number of the company whom issued the licence to your business.

Obtaining a waste permit allows your business to store waste in a designated place temporarily, which also depends on the type of waste you wish to hold. For example, a business can apply for a permit for a separate site to use as a base for a site that has difficult access. In holding the waste in a separate location temporarily, the waste will be cleared faster and will cause disruptions on the main site. In having a second site, smaller vehicles are able to be used, ultimately cutting down the amount of movements required and reducing the overall cost.

J&B Recycling are based in the North of England. Our commercial collection services operate from the Scottish Borders down to Hull and North Yorkshire. Our main areas for collecting and processing commercial waste include Teesside (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton), Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside and Northumberland. Get in touch for more information and to request a quote.