A revised waste Duty of Care Code of Practice was published last week following Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) consultation last year.
Published on 11th March on the Gov.uk website in both an online and printable form, the Code of Practice provides guidance on how those who ‘produce, carry, keep, dispose of, treat, import or have control of waste in England and Wales’ can meet their Duty of Care requirements. The Duty of Care is a legal requirement detailed in the Environmental Act 1990 which requires those dealing with certain streams of waste to take all measures deemed reasonable to keep it safe.
The original Code of Practice was published in 1996. The main aim of the revision is to provide clearer guidance on how users can demonstrate their compliance with the waste Duty of Care, and to bring the guidance up to date with a number of important legislative changes relating to the Duty of Care made since its original publication.
Other changes include hyperlinks to other legislative requirements referenced throughout the guidance, an updated section on the need to separate collections of waste paper, metal, plastic and glass and the removal of repetitive sections and details to slim the document down from 60 pages to a more user friendly 13 page guidance.
For further information about the legal requirements of Duty of Care and how it affects your business, please contact Wiser REcycling’s sister company, Wiser Environment, on 01480 462 23.
Download the Code of Practice here.