Consultation on the household waste duty of care

Overview

At the start of 2018 the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Government published a consultation on proposals to tackle crime and poor performance in the waste sector and introduce a new fixed penalty notice (FPN) for the householder waste Duty of Care.

The summary of responses to that consultation has been published alongside this consultation, and further consideration is ongoing ahead of a final decision on how we will proceed.

This further consultation document focuses on the proposal to introduce a new FPN for household Duty of Care offences related to fly-tipping.

Householders already have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to ensure their waste is passed to an authorised person. Currently the only option for the regulator (usually the local authority in this case) to address breaches of the duty of care is to take the offender to court.

In the previous consultation, we sought views on providing guidance for householders on the reasonable measures that can be taken to meet their duty of care, and guidance for regulators on the use of the proposed FPN.

If a decision is taken to introduce a fixed penalty notice to provide a more proportionate response to breaches of this Duty of Care, we propose to issue non-statutory guidance to local authorities on how the FPN should be used, and update existing guidance in the waste Duty of Care Code of Practice, which sets out the waste duty of care requirements for householders, to provide greater detail on how to meet the duty of care. This guidance is being consulted on ahead of a final decision being taken on the proposed FPN, in order to allow for timely introduction if such a decision is taken.

Drafts of the updated guidance to householders and English local authorities are included as annexes to this consultation. Please note guidance for Welsh local authorities will be issued separately by the Welsh Government. Minor amendments have also been made to other parts of the Code of Practice to better reflect existing legislation.

If you would like to keep in contact with us, to express interest in this any other Defra consultation. Please give us your details through the link below.

https://gov.smartwebportal.co.uk/defra/public/webform.asp?id=108&id2=1D06F7

What happens next

We are now considering the responses to this consultation and any changes to the guidance which are required. The Government response to this consultation will be combined with that for the previous consultation on the FPN and other measures which launched at the start of the year.