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Waste duty of care for businesses: transfer notes, records and checks

The waste duty of care applies to anyone who produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste in England or Wales. This page covers the checks and paperwork the code of practice expects.

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Answers are written by a language model solely from this base's documents, with numbered sources. They can be wrong and aren't legal, medical or financial advice: check the sources before any important decision.

Your duties as a waste holder

In England and Wales, you must prevent unauthorised disposal and escape of waste, transfer it only to an authorised person and describe it accurately. Check carriers on the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales public register.

Breaching the duty is a criminal offence with no upper limit on fines.

Describing waste and keeping records

The description can use edoc, a paper waste transfer note or an invoice with the required details, such as the List of Wastes code, quantity, SIC code and a waste hierarchy statement. A season ticket covers repeated transfers of the same non-hazardous waste with one carrier for up to a year.

Keep copies 2 years for non-hazardous waste and season tickets, three years for hazardous waste consignment notes.

Frequently asked questions

When is a consignment note needed?

For all movements of hazardous waste, including collections by registered carriers and moves between premises of the same business. Exceptions: domestic hazardous waste (other than asbestos) removed from a household, and waste under international shipment controls.

Does the duty of care apply to householders?

A separate, more limited duty applies: householders must take all reasonable measures to pass their waste only to an authorised person.

Who enforces the waste duty of care?

The Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales and local authorities. An officer who asks for a waste description you cannot provide can issue a fixed penalty notice.

For developers and agents

Embed / API / MCP

Connect this base to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or your own app. Each API or MCP request costs €0.10, charged to your Kopik credit (not charged if nothing is found). You need an API key: create one from your dashboard.

MCP for your agents

This base's MCP server URL (tools ask_base and search_base):

MCP URL
https://kopik.io/api/mcp?base=uk-business-carbon-energy-waste-compliance
Claude Code, Cursor and other clients
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http kopik-uk-business-carbon-energy-waste-compliance "https://kopik.io/api/mcp?base=uk-business-carbon-energy-waste-compliance" --header "Authorization: Bearer kpk_…"
JSON config (mcpServers)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kopik-uk-business-carbon-energy-waste-compliance": {
      "url": "https://kopik.io/api/mcp?base=uk-business-carbon-energy-waste-compliance",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer kpk_…"
      }
    }
  }
}

REST API for your apps

mode is "answer" (written answer + sources) or "passages" (raw passages only). Add an optional maxPriceCents to cap the price: if the base costs more, the call is refused and nothing is charged.

curl
curl -X POST https://kopik.io/api/v1/bases/uk-business-carbon-energy-waste-compliance/query \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer kpk_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"question": "Your question here", "mode": "answer"}'

Getting started

  1. Create a key in your dashboard and top up your credit.
  2. Replace kpk_… with your key.
  3. Full details (responses, errors, JS and Python examples): developer docs.