The basic answer to the question of ‘Can you take trade waste to the tip?’ is no.  The tip is only for household waste disposal and recycling.

What is trade waste?

It is trade waste if you have:

• Waste that has been generated due to home improvement work carried out by builders or tradespeople.
• Waste that has been generated as a consequence of commercial activity.
• Any waste that comes from business premises e.g.:
  • Warehouses
  • Shops
  • Offices

In addition to the above waste that is classed as ‘business waste includes waste that originates form the following:

• Agricultural activity
• Industrial activity
• Demolition activity
• Construction activity

What about hazardous waste?

If you have hazardous waste to be disposed of then you must complete a form called a ‘Consignment note’.  This document is available from the ‘.gov’ website.  This note will then need to stay with the waste up to the point it gets to its end destination.

Why do we need waste management and how does it work?

You might be surprised to know that in 2016 the UK had a waste generation of 27.7 million tonnes!   This is however lower than the 32.8 million tonnes of 2012.  This is due to the development of waste management techniques.

As you will no doubt appreciate waste management is very important in order to ensure no effect on:

• Human health.
• Habitats of animals.
• Natural environment.

Waste management covers:

• The collection of waste.
• The transporting of waste.
• The responsible recycling of the waste.

You also need to be aware that we not only need to have effective waste management for our own piece of mind and to protect the environment, there are regulations that cover:

• The collection of waste
• The transport of waste
• The treatment of material
• Disposal of waste.

Waste management: What are the types?

There have been a number of approaches that business have used to manage their waste in recent times.  Some of these approaches are detailed below:

• Landfill: This is basically the act of burying the waste. This approach is being reduced as:
  • Gases caused by gases produced is a cause of contamination
  • It is a source of air pollution.
  • It is a source of water pollution.
• Incineration: This is the process of burning the waste at significant temperatures. This can have the benefit of reducing the volume by up to 30%.
• Recovery and Recycling: This is the identification of waste items so they can be re-purposed to a new use.
• Composting: This is an environmentally friendly process of making use of waste that is organic and making it into a plant food that is rich in nutrients.
• Waste to Energy
  This is the process of making waste that is non-recyclable into:
  • Fuel
  • Electricity
  • Heat

The options of recycling and composting are of course the best of the above options for the environment. The good news is that now a lot of waste is capable of being recycled.

What are the available waste disposal methods that I should use?

The nature of your waste will be the guide to the waste management method you opt for.

If you have a lot of waste that is of a general type the good news is that in a lot of cases it can be recycled.  However, if you have hazardous waste you will need to have specialist handling of the waste.

Are you auditing your waste?  If not, you should be

Having a clear view on what your waste consists of and the amount should be high on your priority list.  This is because the charges for the disposal in landfill are increasing significantly.  If you make improvements to your waste management, it can result in not only giving your business better environmental credentials but also reduce your disposal cost.  This will have a direct effect on increasing your profit.

How do I perform a waste audit?

Performing a waste audit is where you complete a review of the waste of your business and then perform an analysis of the review results.  This review will help you to get a clear view on what the sources of your waste are and identify how much will be going to landfill.  This will aid you in working out where you can make improvements.

Within your audit process you will be able to identify which waste is:

• Reducible
• Reusable
• Recyclable

Setting your waste management targets

Your waste audit will give you a view of how the targets you set will divert waste away from a landfill end destination for e.g.:

• Reusables
• Compostable
• Recyclables

This diversion value can be used as a key performance indicator for additional later targets.

Minimising waste production

When you have completed your waste review it is quite possible you will identify areas of waste that can be removed completely.

Your legal responsibilities when it comes to your business waste

Business are covered by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 plus other legal requirements when it comes to waste.  This is to ensure your waste is both contained safely and disposed of legally.  This is commonly referred to as ‘commercial waste duty of care’

Disposing of commercial waste legally

Please ensure you have the ability to provide upon request ‘Duty of care waste transfer notes’ or receipts that detail:

• The location where your waste was disposed.
• The weight of the waste.
• The tipping date.
• The type of waste.

Waste disposal contractors

There are commercial waste disposal contractors such as ‘Central Waste’ that can aid you in the disposal of your business waste.  However, always check that they licenced as ‘Central Waste’ are.  It is most important to know that you will be prosecuted (court or fixed penalty) if you provide your business waste to a company who is not licensed to both transport and dispose of it.

Next Steps

If you would like assistance with the disposal of your commercial waste, please contact one of our friendly experts at Central Waste Liverpool who are fully registered business waste disposal experts and we will do all we can to be of help.