When you hire a skip you’re often looking for that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ feeling you get from having a big container for all of your waste materials and other rubbish to go in.
But it’s important to be aware of the skip hire Duty of Care responsibilities, whether you’re a householder using a hired skip directly, hiring a skip for tradespeople to use when working on your home, or you’re a business with some extra waste to dispose of.
In any of the above situations, traceability is crucial, and even after your rubbish is taken away you could still find yourself falling foul of the law if it is not disposed of legally.
Find a trustworthy skip hire provider
A reliable skip hire provider will be registered as a waste carrier to remove and transport rubbish from customers’ premises and dispose of it in the correct way.
If your skip hire provider can’t show you the correct paperwork to confirm this, treat them with extreme caution – remember, it’s your rubbish, so it’s your responsibility all the way to the point of disposal.
While most skip hire providers are legit, you don’t want to pay someone only to find yourself fined for fly tipping at a later date.
Householders disposing of purely domestic waste benefit from certain exemptions, but it’s still worth familiarising yourself with the additional waste disposal Duty of Care regulations that apply to businesses and trades, as these can help you to be even more eco-friendly.
Waste transfer notes
Part of the proof of the legal disposal of waste comes in the form of waste transfer notes, which give you a written record of how much rubbish was taken from your premises.
They act like a certificate to show the quantity and type of rubbish removed, along with where it was taken and by whom.
Any decent skip hire provider (such as ourselves) will give you waste transfer notes for every collection they make from your property, and you should keep these in a safe place to show you have done your duty to ensure your waste goes to the right places.
Remember if waste materials are generated by tradespeople working on your property – even on domestic premises – they are classed as business waste and the additional Duty of Care regulations apply as a result.
A responsibility to recycle
You’re unlikely to be prosecuted for generating a small amount of unnecessary waste, but in principle you have a duty to reduce the amount of rubbish you produce and recycle as much as possible.
If you want to minimise your environmental footprint, the best way to go about it is to consider each of the following in order:
- Can you reduce your waste directly, e.g. by using less packaging?
- Can you directly reuse waste, e.g. refilling empty containers?
- Can you recycle waste that cannot be reused?
- Can you dispose of non-recyclable waste in a beneficial way, e.g. energy recovery?
- Will any remaining waste be transported responsibly to landfill and not fly-tipped?
Together these five Rs make waste disposal a closed-loop system: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recovery and Responsible disposal.
Keep them in mind and you’re well on your way to complying with your skip hire Duty of Care, whether you’re a householder or a business customer.
Contact us today to find out more.