What a waste transfer note is, and why you want one

Nobody has ever been excited about a waste transfer note. It matters anyway, because it is the only thing standing between you and a fine if your rubbish turns up in a lane six miles away.

The duty nobody tells you about

Under the Environmental Protection Act, a householder has a duty of care to take reasonable steps to check that whoever takes their waste away is authorised to have it. Not to check that they are nice, or cheap, or came recommended — that they are registered.

If you do not, and the waste is later dumped, the council can issue you a fixed penalty of up to £600. The person who actually dumped it is committing a far more serious offence, but that does not get you out of yours, and they are usually harder to find than you are. Your address is generally somewhere in the pile.

What the note has to show

• Who the waste came from, and who took it
• The carrier’s registration number, so it can be checked
• What the waste was, described properly — not just “rubbish”
• The date and where it was collected
• Where it went

Keep it. If a council ever asks how your sofa ended up in a field, this is the entire conversation.

Checking a carrier takes a minute

Search gov.uk for “check a waste carrier”, put in the name or registration number, and see whether the registration is current. That is it. If the person quoting you cannot give you a number to check, you have learned something useful for free.

A registration is public, permanent and easy to produce. The only reason not to hand one over is not having one.

The honest version of the pitch

Every load we take comes with a transfer note, and our registration numbers are in the footer of every page on this site so you can check us before you ring. That is not us going above and beyond — it is the legal minimum, and the interesting question is why it is a selling point at all.