What Is Commercial Waste?

Commercial or business waste is derived from premises used predominantly for trade, sport, entertainment, or recreation. It applies to any business that engages in commercial activity. However, it doesn’t apply to household or industrial waste.

You have a legal duty to dispose of properly if you create waste from below:

• Waste from rented properties encountered by a landlord or their letting agent.
• Waste is derived at residential properties by contractors and builders.
• A commercial organisation collects waste from a residential property in exchange for payment.
• Waste from a residential property brought to a recycling site by anyone other than the homeowner.
• Waste from home-based business activities such as woodwork, etc.
• Any additional commercial waste defined by the Controlled Waste Regulations 2012

As a business owner, your legal responsibility is to ensure all your waste is handled and disposed of properly. You must comply with the Duty of Care legislation, demonstrating how commercial or business waste should be stored, transported, disposed of and recorded.

Disposing of your own business or commercial waste requires a waste carrier license by law in the UK.

If someone else transports your waste, it’s essential to make sure of the following:

• The individual or business involved is authorised to carry your waste. All companies licenced to take or accept commercial waste are listed on the Environment Agency’s Public Registers. At Reclamet Limited, you will find us on the Waste Carriers Register for England.
• Insist that all waste is transported to a licensed or exempt recycling site.
• Supply a waste transfer note to your carrier, including a complete description of the waste, signed by both your business and the waste carrier and sign the declaration on the transfer note.

Duty of care legislation states that waste must be stored safely and securely in containers that protect it from contamination by the environment or animals.

Aside from storing your waste correctly, it would help if you also had a business you could rely on to collect and transport your potentially hazardous substances to an approved site for disposal or recycling, from corroding electronics to a pile of sharp scrap metal which, if left unattended, could harm wildlife.

If you’re in need of a dependable commercial waste collection service, look no further than Reclamet Limited.