The description box on a waste transfer note is the field most often filled in with a single lazy word: "waste", "rubbish", "mixed", "skip". It is also the field that matters most if something goes wrong later. A load that is mis-described can be rejected at a weighbridge, mis-classified, sent to a site that cannot lawfully take it, or traced back to you after a fly-tip with nothing on paper to show what you actually handed over. This guide explains what the law expects from the description, how to write one in a couple of minutes, and how it fits with the EWC code on the same note.
What the law requires
Under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the duty of care regulations, a transfer of controlled waste must be accompanied by a written description of the waste. The test in the legislation is about purpose, not length: the description must be good enough to let the next person in the chain avoid breaking the law and meet their own duty of care. In practice that means the receiver should be able to read it and know what they are taking, what condition it is in, and whether any special handling is needed.
The description sits alongside the other required note fields: the EWC (List of Wastes) code, quantity, container type, date and place of transfer, and details of both parties. The description tells the human story, and the code puts the waste into a standard classification. Neither replaces the other. Our guide to what a waste transfer note is sets out the full list.
What a good description includes
You do not need a paragraph. You do need enough detail that someone who has never seen your site could picture the load. Cover these points, in whatever order reads naturally:
- What it is. The material or main materials, in plain words: timber offcuts, brick and concrete rubble, cardboard and paper packaging, mixed office furniture.
- Where or how it arose. The activity that produced it: kitchen strip-out, garden clearance, shop refit, warehouse clear-out. This tells the receiver which contaminants to expect.
- Physical form. Solid, liquid, sludge, powder, loose or bagged, baled.
- Composition. If mixed, list the main components. If there are components the receiver would worry about, say whether they are present or confirmed absent.
- Known contamination or hazards. Oil residues, paint, chemicals, sharps, anything that affects handling.
- Packaging or container. Skip, bags, IBC, drums, roll-on roll-off, loose load.
- Special handling. Heavy items, items that must be kept dry, items that must not be tipped.
If the load is mixed, a short statement of how it is mixed is more useful than an overly long list. "General mixed non-hazardous construction waste from domestic kitchen strip-out: timber, metal fittings, plastic packaging and cardboard. No plasterboard, no asbestos suspected" does the job in one sentence.
Weak and strong descriptions side by side
The difference is easiest to see in examples. These are illustrations of style, and the EWC codes shown are the commonly used ones for each waste stream, though you should confirm the right code for your own load.
| Weak | Better | Typical EWC |
|---|---|---|
| Rubbish | Mixed non-hazardous construction and demolition waste from a house extension: brick, timber, plastic pipe, packaging. No soil, no plasterboard | 17 09 04 |
| Wood | Clean untreated timber offcuts and pallets from a joinery workshop, loose in skip | 17 02 01 or 20 01 38 |
| Garden waste | Green waste from landscaping: grass cuttings, hedge trimmings and small branches, loose in skip. No soil, no invasive plants | 20 02 01 |
| Office waste | Dry mixed recyclables from an office: paper, card, plastic bottles and cans, in wheeled bins. No food waste | 20 01 01 or 15 01 06 |
| Metal | Mixed scrap metal from a plumbing refurbishment: copper pipe, steel brackets and cast iron radiators, no fluid | 17 04 07 |
| Soil | Excavated topsoil and subsoil from a driveway installation, no known contamination, source site is residential | 17 05 04 |
Matching the description to the EWC code
The description and the code must agree. A load described as clean timber but coded as mixed construction waste invites questions from the receiving site, and from an inspector later. Equally, a code chosen for convenience that does not match the waste can lead the load to be accepted somewhere that has no authorisation for it.
EWC codes come from the List of Wastes, which classifies waste by source and type. Many waste streams have an obvious code. Others are "mirror entries", where a hazardous version and a non-hazardous version of the same waste both exist, and you have to assess the waste to choose. The Environment Agency, NRW, SEPA and NIEA publish joint technical guidance on classifying waste, known as WM3, on gov.uk. Our guide to EWC codes explains the structure of the six-digit codes.
When a description reveals the waste is hazardous
Sometimes writing the description makes you realise the waste is not what you thought. Fluorescent tubes in an office clearance, oil-based paint in a decorator's skip, asbestos cement sheets in a shed roof: any of these changes the paperwork. Hazardous waste does not move on a transfer note. It needs a consignment note, usually a hazardous code, and an appropriate carrier and receiving site. Our guides on hazardous waste regulations and waste transfer notes versus consignment notes explain the differences.
The rules also restrict mixing hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste. Sweeping up asbestos fragments into a general skip, or tipping oily rags in with ordinary packaging, can make the whole load unsuitable for the route it was booked for. If you find something you did not expect, stop, separate it, and describe it as a separate stream.
Repeat loads and season tickets
A season ticket covers a series of transfers of the same waste between the same parties for up to a year. The description on it must be accurate for every load covered. A "cardboard and paper" description cannot stretch to cover a collection with food-contaminated packaging, and a note describing wood from a joinery cannot cover the day the site was cleared of old painted doors. If the waste changes, write a new description or a new note. Our guide to season tickets for waste transfers explains the conditions.
Who is responsible for the description?
Usually the person handing over the waste, the transferor, writes the description, because they know most about where it came from. But the receiver has a duty too. A carrier or a waste site that accepts a load should check that what they can see matches what the note says. If it does not, they should raise it before taking the waste, not after.
If you produce waste and a carrier fills in the note for you, read it before you sign. Your signature confirms that the description is correct. A skip driver in a hurry might write "mixed" because it takes two seconds. You are the person who knows the waste.
Habits that keep descriptions accurate
- Build a short library. For each regular waste stream, write a standard description once, agree it with your carrier, and reuse it. Update it when the process changes.
- Take a photo. A dated photograph of the load before it leaves is cheap evidence if the description is ever questioned.
- Brief the team. Anyone filling in notes should know what "good" looks like and who to ask when something is unusual.
- Check for consistency. The description, the EWC code, the container type and the quantity should all tell the same story. A "bags of paper" load weighing several tonnes does not.
- Revisit after rejections. If a site has rejected a load or charged for contamination, treat it as feedback on your descriptions and fix the standard wording.
The point of all this is that the next person to handle the waste, and any regulator who reads the note later, should not need to ask you what was in the load. The person reading the note might be a site manager at a transfer station, an Environment Agency officer, or you in two years when a question arrives about a collection you barely remember. If you want to see how the description field sits alongside the EWC code and the other required details, try QWTN's free note creator.
Because the classification rules and guidance evolve, check the current technical guidance on gov.uk before settling on codes for unusual waste streams. For anything you are unsure about, ask the receiving site or a qualified waste adviser, and note the answer.
If you also want to make sure the carrier collecting a well-described load is properly registered, see our guide to checking a waste carrier before you hand over waste.
Try it yourself
Create a one-off transfer note without an account.