When you book a skip, a man with a van or a clearance firm, you are doing more than buying a service. You are handing legal responsibility for a load of waste to someone else, and the law says you remain responsible for it until it reaches a lawful destination. If the carrier fly-tips it, you can be the person the regulator calls first. Checking who you are dealing with takes a few minutes and is the single most useful step in the duty of care.
This guide is for businesses that produce waste, for small carriers who pass loads to other carriers, and for householders arranging a clearance. It covers what to check, where to check it, what the red flags look like, and what to keep on file.
Why checking matters
Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 sets out the waste duty of care. One of its core requirements is that you transfer waste only to an authorised person, or to a person for authorised transport purposes. A registered waste carrier is an authorised person for that purpose. An unregistered one is not, and handing waste to them is an offence on your part, whether or not you knew they were unregistered.
Fly-tipped waste is often traced back to its source through addresses on paperwork, items in the pile, or photographs. Householders and small businesses who paid a cheap, unregistered carrier have ended up facing fixed penalties or prosecution. The regulator does not generally accept "they said they were licensed" as a defence if you never looked. See our guide to the UK duty of care for waste for the wider picture.
What to check, step by step
1. Ask for their registration number
A legitimate carrier will give you their registration number without fuss. In England and Wales, numbers on the public register begin CBDU (upper tier) or CBDL (lower tier). Older registrations may be in a different format. If the carrier does not have a number, or says it is "in the post", do not hand over any waste until it is confirmed.
2. Look them up on the public register
The register is free to search on gov.uk. Search by number or by business name, and read the whole entry. Check that the name on the register matches the business you are dealing with. Check the tier. Check that the status is active and, for upper tier, that the expiry date has not passed. Our guide to searching the EA register walks through the screens.
3. Check the tier suits the job
Upper tier registration is the one professional carriers use to carry other people's waste as a business. Lower tier registrations cover narrower situations, for example businesses carrying only their own waste, or only certain types of waste. If someone offering a commercial clearance service quotes a lower tier number, ask why. The upper tier and lower tier explainer sets out who falls where.
4. Ask where the waste is going
A registered carrier is only half the chain. Ask which site will receive your waste and whether it holds an environmental permit or a registered exemption. Permits can be checked on the public register of environmental permits on gov.uk. A good carrier will tell you the site name straight away. One who says "we sort it out" or will not name the site is a concern.
5. Check they can take your waste type
Standard carrier registration does not mean a carrier knows how to deal with everything. Ask about hazardous materials, asbestos, electrical items, tyres or clinical waste before you book. Some of these need separate documents, special vehicles or specific permits at the destination. Our overview of the hazardous waste rules explains when a consignment note replaces a transfer note.
6. Check the person, the vehicle and the paperwork on the day
Do the details match? Is the business name on the vehicle or paperwork, and does it match the register entry? Does the person collecting your waste work for the company you booked? Subcontracting happens in the trade, but you should be told, and the subcontractor must also be registered.
Red flags
None of these proves a carrier is rogue. Several together should make you stop and ask more questions.
- A price far below what other quotes suggest, particularly for a full load or a mixed clearance
- Advertising only on social media or noticeboards with a mobile number and no business name
- Door-to-door leaflets or unsolicited offers to take waste away
- Cash only, with no invoice or receipt
- No registration number, or a number the register does not recognise
- A registered number that belongs to a different company or person
- Reluctance to say where the waste goes, or to give a transfer note
- An unmarked vehicle, or a van that looks overloaded or has no sheeting
- Being asked to leave waste somewhere for later collection
Some rogue operators copy a real registered carrier's number to look legitimate. This is why comparing the name, address and phone details on the register entry with the person in front of you matters, and not just confirming that the number exists.
If the carrier is in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
Carrier registration is devolved. England and Wales share one public register, which covers carriers registered through the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. Scotland has its own register run by SEPA, and Northern Ireland has registration under NIEA. If your waste is moving across a border, or the carrier is based in another nation, check the right register for where they are registered. When in doubt, ask them which regulator they are registered with and look it up there.
What to keep on file
Checking is only useful if you can prove you did it. For each carrier, keep:
- the registration number, tier and expiry date, recorded on the date you checked
- a screenshot or printout of the register entry, dated
- the destination site, with its permit or exemption reference if you have it
- the transfer note or consignment note for every collection
- quotes and invoices, which show the service and who provided it
Transfer notes must be kept for at least two years, and consignment notes for at least three. Putting the check date in the same file as the notes makes it easy to show an officer. If an Environment Agency officer ever visits, this is among the first things they look for, as we describe in our guide to what happens at an EA waste inspection.
How often to re-check
You do not need to check the register before every single collection from a carrier you use weekly. A sensible routine for regular suppliers is to check when you first engage them, again at least once a year, and whenever a season ticket is renewed. Upper tier registrations expire after three years, so an annual look catches an expiry or a revocation well before it becomes a problem. If you use many carriers, put the dates in a shared calendar.
Always re-check before a one-off job, a large clearance, or any job involving a new type of waste. For carriers that come back after a long gap, treat them as new.
What to do if the carrier is not registered
If the register shows no entry, an expired entry, or a revoked one, do not hand over your waste. Explain politely that you cannot proceed until they are registered and move to another carrier. If waste has already been collected, write down everything you can: the date, the name given, the phone number, the vehicle registration, a description of the van, and what was taken. Take photographs of any advert you responded to. Then report it. The Environment Agency's incident hotline is available around the clock, and you can also report anonymously through Crimestoppers. Check gov.uk for the current numbers and online forms.
Reporting a carrier you have already used is better than staying quiet. It shows you acted in good faith, and if the waste is later found, you have a record that you tried to do the right thing.
If you are a carrier passing work on
Skip firms and small hauliers often subcontract overflow, specialist loads or distant jobs. When you do, you are the transferor to the second carrier and the same checks apply to them. Record their registration number on the transfer note, check the register entry, and confirm the destination. Do not assume that because they carried a load for a friend, they are registered. Our free note creator has fields for the carrier's details so the registration number goes on every note.
Rules and registration systems change, and the government has been consulting on reforms to the waste carrier regime. Check the current guidance on gov.uk for the nation you are in before relying on any detail here.
Try it yourself
Create a one-off transfer note without an account.