The waste duty of care is a Great Britain-wide idea, but in Scotland it is administered by its own regulator, supported by its own code of practice, and sits alongside Scottish regulations that differ from those in England and Wales. If you produce, carry or receive waste in Scotland, or you are an English or Welsh business that works there from time to time, you need to know where the rules match and where they do not.
This guide covers the duty of care itself, the role of SEPA (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency), the code of practice, transfer notes, hazardous waste, and carrier registration. It is a practical overview, not a substitute for SEPA's guidance, which you should check for the current position.
The Duty of Care in Scotland
The duty comes from section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which applies in Scotland as well as England and Wales. It applies to anyone who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste, and to brokers who have control of it. In outline, you must take reasonable steps to:
- prevent anyone else from handling your waste illegally, whether that is dumping it, storing it without authority, or disposing of it without a permit or licence;
- prevent the waste escaping from your control;
- make sure that when you pass it on, it goes to an authorised person, and that it comes with a written description good enough for the next person to handle it lawfully.
The Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991, as amended for Scotland, set out the transfer note requirements. This article is about businesses and organisations. The position of householders dealing with their own household waste is different, and SEPA publishes separate guidance for them.
What SEPA Does
SEPA is the environmental regulator for Scotland, the equivalent of the Environment Agency in England and Natural Resources Wales. For waste it regulates permits and licences, registers waste carriers and brokers, monitors hazardous waste movements, inspects sites, investigates waste crime, and reports offences to the Procurator Fiscal.
For a small business, SEPA matters in three ways. It is where you check whether a carrier or a disposal site is authorised. It is where you find guidance when something is unclear. And it is the body that will ask you for paperwork if it investigates a waste problem that touches your business, for example a fly-tip that traces back to a load you handed over.
The Code of Practice
Section 34 allows ministers to issue a code of practice on how the duty of care should be met, and the Scottish Government has issued its own for Scotland. Failure to follow a code of practice is not an offence in itself, but a court can take it into account, and a regulator will use it as the benchmark for what “reasonable steps” means. In effect, if you follow the code you have a strong answer to an allegation that you failed in your duty. If you ignore it, you are on your own.
The code covers who is under the duty, how to describe waste, how to check the person you give it to, what the transfer note should contain, and what records to keep. Read the Scottish version rather than relying on the English or Welsh one, because references to regulators, legislation and registers are specific to Scotland. Our general guide to the UK duty of care covers the principles shared across Great Britain.
Transfer Notes in Scotland
When non-hazardous controlled waste changes hands, a written description of the waste must be passed on, and a transfer note, signed by both parties, is the standard way to do it. The note should record:
- a description of the waste and its EWC code (also called the List of Wastes code);
- the quantity and how it is contained or packaged;
- the date and place of transfer;
- the names and addresses of the transferor and transferee, and the capacity in which each is acting, such as producer, carrier or site operator;
- the registration or authorisation details of the carrier and of the receiving site, such as a carrier registration number or a permit or licence reference.
Keep the transfer notes for two years. Where the same waste is moved regularly between the same parties, a season ticket covers repeat movements, as it does elsewhere in Great Britain. Our guide on waste transfer notes goes through the fields in detail, and the principles are the same in Scotland. Check SEPA's guidance for any Scottish variation in wording or retention requirements before you design your own template.
Hazardous Waste in Scotland
Hazardous waste in Scotland falls under the Hazardous Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2005, not the England and Wales regulations. As in the rest of Great Britain, hazardous waste moves with a consignment note rather than a standard transfer note, and the consignor, carrier and consignee each have obligations. SEPA oversees the system and can ask for the records.
The details of consignment note codes, how notes are completed, and the retention period are in the Scottish regulations and SEPA guidance. Do not use an England and Wales consignment note layout or its note codes without checking that they suit a Scottish movement. If you move hazardous waste across the border, check the rules for both the departure and the arrival country. Our hazardous waste guide explains the classification principles that apply everywhere.
Carrier and Broker Registration
Anyone who transports waste professionally in Scotland, and anyone who arranges for others to do so, generally needs to be registered with SEPA. The Scottish system is different in structure from the upper tier and lower tier arrangement used in England, and fees, duration and renewal rules are set by SEPA. Check the current detail directly with SEPA.
Do not assume that a registration issued in England or Wales covers work in Scotland. If you are an English or Welsh carrier taking a job north of the border, confirm with SEPA whether you need a Scottish registration before you load. Equally, if you are a Scottish customer hiring a carrier from elsewhere, ask them to show how they are authorised to operate in Scotland.
Before you hand over any waste, look the carrier up on SEPA's public register, check the name matches the person turning up, and note the registration number on the transfer note. The steps are the same as those in our article on checking a waste carrier before hiring, with SEPA's register as the source.
Scottish Rules That Sit Alongside the Duty
Scotland has its own legislation around the duty of care, and a few items are worth knowing about.
Business recycling and food waste
The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require businesses to present dry recyclables, such as paper, card, plastic, metal and glass, for separate collection, and to present food waste separately where they produce more than 5 kg a week. These duties have applied to businesses since 2014 (with rural exceptions on food waste). They influence how you describe waste on a transfer note, because separated streams should be described as such.
Landfill restrictions
Scotland has restricted the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste, with the ban taking effect at the start of 2026 after earlier delays. It affects local authorities and the operators who handle their waste more than it does small waste producers, but it is part of the reason that landfill options for some mixed waste have narrowed. Check SEPA for the current scope.
The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024
This Act gives Scottish ministers powers to bring in further measures on waste and the circular economy, including measures aimed at reducing waste and increasing reuse. Many of those powers need secondary legislation before they have effect on businesses, so watch for announcements from the Scottish Government and SEPA rather than assuming any change is in force.
Records and Inspections
If SEPA inspects, expect to be asked for your transfer notes or season tickets, your carriers' registration details, any consignment notes for hazardous waste, and evidence of how you describe and classify what you produce. A tidy file for each waste stream, listing the carrier, destination and dates, answers most questions.
Keep records somewhere you can retrieve them quickly. A pile of delivery receipts in a van glovebox does not do this. Digital copies are acceptable, as long as they are complete and you can produce them when asked.
Checklist for Scottish Work
- Identify each waste stream you produce and whether it is hazardous.
- Read the Scottish Government's duty of care code of practice and SEPA's waste guidance.
- Check each carrier and site on SEPA's register before the first transfer.
- Complete a transfer note or season ticket for every non-hazardous transfer, with an accurate description and EWC code.
- Use Scottish consignment notes for hazardous waste.
- Keep transfer notes for two years and consignment notes for the period set in the Scottish regulations.
- Confirm separately whether any out-of-country registration covers Scottish work.
Try it yourself
Create a one-off transfer note without an account.