Duty of Care

The Controlled Waste (Duty of Care) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 came into force in Northern Ireland in October 2002 as amended in 2004.

Legislative updates to the regulations:

The Controlled Waste (Duty of Care) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (.PDF 216Kb)

The basis of duty of care is that any person who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste, or as a broker, has control of such waste, must take all measures applicable to him/her in that capacity as are reasonable in the circumstances to:

• Prevent the deposit of controlled waste on land except under the terms of a waste management authorisation;
• Prevent the escape of waste from his/her control, or that of any other person;
• Secure that any transfer of waste is only to an authorised person; and
• Be accompanied by a description adequate to help any subsequent holder avoid breaching the duty.

In practice the legislation requires all producers, carriers and managers of waste to put in place a system of transfer notes in order to document waste movements. For details of the requirements see the Code of Practice: Waste Management The Duty of Care - A Code of Practice (.PDF 333Kb)

Further advice is available by telephone on the Duty of Care helpline 028 9056 9360 or email julie.conlon@doeni.gov.uk.