Guides · Duty of care

Who can legally transport commercial waste in London?

Only an upper tier registered waste carrier can move your business waste. The registration sits with them. The liability for using an unregistered one sits with you.

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What does "registered waste carrier" actually mean?

If your business produces waste, you cannot simply hand it to whoever offers the cheapest price. The law says the person who moves it has to be registered to do so, and it says you are the one who has to check.

It means the Environment Agency holds a registration in that business’s name, on a public register anyone can search. The registration records who they are, their company number, their address, what they are registered to do and when it runs out.

There is no certificate to admire and no badge on the van that proves anything. The register is the proof, and a photo of a laminated card is not.

Does my collector need upper tier or lower tier?

Upper tier, in almost every case that matters to a business.

Lower tier registration covers a narrow set of situations, mainly a business carrying its own waste, plus certain organisations like charities and waste collection authorities. It’s free and it doesn’t expire.

Upper tier is the one required to carry waste that belongs to somebody else, as a business, for money. That is what a commercial waste collection is. It has to be renewed, so it can lapse. That is why the expiry date is worth reading and not just glancing at.

The Environment Agency issues upper tier registration as one combined category covering carrying, brokering and dealing. You will see all three words on the register entry for firms that only ever carry. That is how the category is written. It is not a menu of services the firm sells.

How do I check a waste carrier licence?

Two minutes, no account, no charge.

Open the register
Go to the Environment Agency public register for waste carriers, brokers and dealers.
Search them
Search the company name, or the registration number if they have given you one.
Read four things
The business name, the company number, whether it says upper tier, and the expiry date.

The check that catches problems is the name. It has to match the company that is going to invoice you. A registration in the name of a director personally, or a different limited company, or a trading name that does not appear on your invoice, is not cover for your load. That mismatch is common and it is worth thirty seconds of your time.

If a collector will not give you a registration number, that answers the question.

What happens if an unregistered carrier takes my waste?

Your duty of care does not transfer with the load. Under the Environmental Protection Act, the business that produced the waste has to take reasonable steps to make sure it goes to someone authorised to take it, and to keep a record of the handover.

So if waste traced back to your business turns up fly-tipped, "somebody quoted me forty quid and took it away" is not a defence. It is closer to an admission. The producer can be prosecuted, and local authorities do prosecute, because the paperwork trail is the easiest part of the case to build.

The practical version: the cheap cash collection is only cheap until the load is found, and it gets found more often than people expect, because the fly-tip usually contains something with your address on it.

What should a registered carrier hand me at collection?

A waste transfer note, every time. It records what was collected, when, from where, by whom, and under which registration. You keep your copy for two years.

Together the two things answer the whole question. The register proves the carrier was allowed to take it. The transfer note proves they did, and that you handed it over properly. Without both, you have a payment and nothing else.

If you are still working out whether you need a standing arrangement at all, that is a separate question and it is covered in do I legally need a commercial waste contract.

Is Capital Recycle a registered waste carrier?

Yes, and here is the entry rather than our word for it.

Registration number
CBDU466346
Registered as
Carrier, Broker, Dealer (Upper Tier)
Company number
14062640
Expires
13 January 2029

You can read the registration on the Environment Agency register without taking our word for any of it, which is the point of the register.

Run the name check on us the same way you would on anyone else. The business name on that entry is the business name on the invoice.

The two questions worth asking any collector

Before you agree a price with anybody, ours included:

"What is your waste carrier registration number?" A photo of a card is not an answer, and neither is "we’re fully licensed". Ask again for the number.

"Will I get a transfer note for every collection?" Not for the first one. For every one.

Both answers should take a supplier about four seconds. How long they actually take tells you most of what you need to know.

See commercial waste collection

Want a price from a registered carrier?

Send us a photo and a postcode and you will get a price back from a real person. We cover London and the WD postcodes. Call 0207 101 4003 or use the contact form.