Under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, The Council has a duty to arrange for the collection of commercial waste, if requested. If such a request is received, this council will arrange for the collection through it's current contractors Enterprise MRS for which the cost of the collection, disposal and the administration will be payable by the company requesting the service.

Historically, this is a service that the Council has not offered and currently all that could be offered would be a collection service based on coloured plastic sacks, similar to refuse. Properties therefore seeking a collection are respectfully recommended to refer to the yellow pages to select a specialist contractor as this Council cannot recommend any individual contractor.

As for the collection of items that may be recyclable or reusable, then please refer to the Wasteaware website.

Read this and you will have a brief guide to your responsibilities under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Your local Authority has enforcement powers to control refuse and litter.
You must be aware of your duties to avoid business fines of up to £20,000 for some offences.

In previous years the District Council has included a letter concerning the 'Duty of Care' for commercial premises with their first business rate account of the year. I am pleased to say that many businesses who weren't sure if they were dealing with their waste in the right manner contacted the District Council and were given advice as to what they should be doing in order to comply with the law. If you currently employ a licensed waste contractor to collect your waste and are complying with all the 'Duty of Care' provisions, you need not contact us.

Unfortunately there are still some businesses who are not disposing of their waste properly and regrettably these businesses have been taken to court for offences they committed under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The basic points to remember are:

Section 34 (1) - it shall be the duty of any person ....who.... produces....keeps....or disposes of controlled waste...... (b) to prevent the escape of waste from his control.

i.e. DO NOT LET YOUR BINS OVERFLOW, ENSURE LOOSE WASTE IS PROPERLY
CONTAINED. IF YOU USE TRADE WASTE SACKS, ENSURE THEY ARE TIED OR TAPED
AND PUT OUT ON THE CORRECT DAY.

Section 34 (i) (c)... it shall be the duty of any person.... on the transfer of the waste, to secure (i) that the transfer is only to an authorised person.

i.e. YOU MUST ENSURE THE PERSON REMOVING YOUR WASTE IS EITHER FROM
YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY OR A LICENCED WASTE COLLECTION COMPANY. IF YOU
LET YOUR WASTE BE TAKEN WITHOUT CHECKING THAT THE PERSON TAKING IT IS
A LICENCED WASTE CONTRACTOR AND IT ENDS UP DUMPED ILLEGALLY, YOU
COMMIT AN OFFENCE.

Section 34 (i) it shall be the duty of any person to ensure (ii) that there is transferred such a written description of the waste as will enable other persons to avoid a contravention... and to comply with the duty.... as respects the escape of waste.

i.e. YOU MUST HAVE A WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF THE WASTE REMOVED - IT MUST
SHOW THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF WHO IS TAKING IT AND SHOW YOUR NAME
AND ADDRESS AS THE PERSON WHO PRODUCED IT. JUST PUTTING IT OUT IN
BLACK SACKS ON THE FOOTWAY WITHOUT A LICENCED WASTE CONTRACTOR
BEING EMPLOYED TO COLLECT IT, IS BREAKING THE LAW.

If you would like more information on you 'Duty of Care', contact the Client Services Department, St. Albans District Council on 01727-819285 where leaflets and advice concerning this subject are available. Please do not be the one's to end up in court, find out your responsibilities NOW.