What You Need To Know About Licenced Waste Carriers

Fly-tipping in the UK is a huge problem, as anybody who has seen large amounts of waste dumped down country lanes will know. This is why the government has, quite rightly in the view of most people, made it a criminal offence. That doesn’t prevent a lot of cowboys from continuing to do it and destroying swathes of our beautiful countryside. However, they are not, in most instances, interested in our countryside, but simply how much profit that they can make. After all, if they remove your waste and you pay them in cash it is 100% profit. What’s more, they are hardly likely to declare it to the tax man!

This is why, if you are a homeowner, businessman, or anyone else who needs to dispose of waste, should ensure that any business that you call to remove waste is a licenced waste carrier. We all need waste removed occasionally in our lives, but if and when you do, you should ask them for their waste carrier’s licence number. This applies to any sort of contractors such as builders, landscape gardeners, tree fellers, house clearance companies, furniture retailers, carpet fitters, scrap metal merchants, skip hire companies, and so on.

The requirement to be a licensed waste carrier applies regardless of where the waste is taken (whether back to the carrier’s own premises, another person’s premises, or directly to a licensed disposal facility) or whether the waste carrier is a one-man band, partnership, or limited company.

It also applies to any tradesman, such as a bathroom fitter for instance, who is transporting rubbish they themselves have created, such as an old bath. Failing to register as a waste carrier – which costs £154 for a three-year licence – can result in a fine, a criminal record, and seizure of the vehicle which was used to transport the waste. That doesn’t seem to deter some of the individuals who still do it, and it results in a £100 million a year bill to the taxpayer for the clean-up. 

So before you select a company to remove any waste from your premises, just check that they are a licenced waste carrier. You can do this by calling the Environment Agency on 08708 506506 or checking online.