When you hire professionals to clean up a property, it is imperative that you ensure that they are licensed waste carriers.
Why? Well, ultimately, whether you are a private homeowner or run a business, the removal of waste is your responsibility.
Even if third parties are involved, you could face fines or prosecution if it is not disposed of correctly and legally.
Who Needs A Waste Carriers License?
You need a waste carriers license if you:
- dispose of waste
- buy or sell unwanted items that are classed as waste
Companies who fail to provide valid waste carriers licenses while carrying out this kind of work can be fined up to £50,000.
Here at Vinci Response, we carry out many services for commercial and domestic clients that involve waste removal, some of which are detailed below:
We are proud holders of an Upper Tier waste carriers license and will happily provide verification on request (more on this later).
Types of Waste Carriers License
Firstly though, let’s look at the different types of waste carriers licenses.
There are two: Lower and Upper Tier.
The kind of work you do determines what type of license you must have.
Lower tier carriers only carry waste that they produce and do not expire. An example of a lower-tier carrier is a contractor that comes onto the site to wash vehicles and collects the effluent for disposal.
Examples of Lower Tier registrations might include:
– Businesses that collect confidential waste from their different locations to centralise at Head Office.
– Healthcare Trusts where nurses travel with waste sharps in their car.
– Carpet fitters who take away offcuts.
– Charities collecting printer cartridges
Upper Tier registrations expire every three years. They are required for any company that carries waste on a professional basis.
So, for example:
– Waste Management companies
– Plumbers carrying waste pipework.
– Builders carrying rubble or wood offcuts
How Can Waste Carrier Licenses Be Verified?
Verifying a company’s waste certificate is easy, and we would recommend you do so before any work is carried out.
You can simply ask for their license number (every licensed waste carrier has one) and then check it on the Environment Agency’s website.
If you don’t have the waste licence registration number for any reason, you can use that site to search for the business name or their commercial trading name. If you can’t find them, the chances are they won’t have a waste carriers license.
In Conclusion
You want to have confidence that any company you employ to help you remove waste has a valid waste carriers license.
If they don’t have one, this could have harmful repercussions for you and them. So don’t be afraid to ask.
Verifying their license details is straightforward on the Environmental Agency website.
Remember, if you need a local cleaning company you can trust, contact Vinci Response Services today and see how we can help.
