Commercial Waste Enforcement

Business waste includes any waste coming from:

•    shops, offices and businesses operating from home
•    construction
•    demolition
•    industry
•    agriculture

You have a responsibility (duty of care) to arrange for the collection and disposal of all recycling and waste generated by your business.

This duty of care lasts from the moment you produce the waste, to when it is received by a business that is authorised to deal with it. For example, a licenced disposal site or a registered waste carrier.

Commercial waste and recycling cannot be disposed of using the councils household collection service or taken to the recycling centres or bring sites.
 

To meet your duty of care you must:

• Store and present all waste in a manner that ensures it does not (or has the potential to) escape your control, cause a nuisance or have a detrimental effect on the locality
  • Bins must be closed and secure (locked)
  • Not blocking pavements / access
  • Keep the area clean and free from litter
• Use a licensed waste carrier and an authorised disposal facility (you have a duty to check)
• Keep documentation for a minimum of two years and be able to produce this when asked by officers.

We carry out regular compliance visits across North Somerset to check every business is dealing with any waste that they produce responsibly.

When visiting a business, we can issue a duty of care notice to a business if they suspect that the business is not dealing with the waste they produce in a responsible manner.
 

Duty of care notices require a business to provide to the Council the following documentation within 7 days:

• a written description of the waste transferred by the business
• the transfer note (or copies) for a period of two years from the transfer of the controlled waste

If the business does not provide the documentation to the Council within 7 days, then the business will be issued with an Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN).