Who needs one
| Who | What the law asks |
|---|---|
| A business, for any waste it produces | A transfer note, or a document with the same information such as an invoice, for each load of non-hazardous waste moved off its premises |
| Both sides of the transfer | Keep a copy, on paper or electronically, for at least two years, and show it to the council or the environmental regulator if asked |
| A business with regular, identical collections | One note, a "season ticket", can cover repeated transfers for up to a year while the holder, the carrier and the type of waste stay the same, with a schedule listing each transfer; both are kept for two years after the last one |
| A householder, for the household waste of their own home | No transfer note. The duty is to take reasonable steps to make sure the waste goes only to someone authorised to take it: with a private firm, by checking that it is a registered (upper tier) waste carrier. It is sensible to keep a record of the check or a receipt with the business's details |
| A business moving hazardous waste | A consignment note instead, kept for three years by the business that produced it |
The householder's rule covers your own household waste. Waste a tradesperson produces while working on your home is theirs to deal with, and they need the note; and waste from clearing a property after it has been vacated, by a landlord or letting agent for example, is not household waste.
This is the law in England and Wales, as the waste duty of care code of practice sets it out; GOV.UK's guidance on waste transfer notes explains it for England. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own duty of care rules and codes.
What the note records
Regulation 35 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 lists what the written information must contain:
- what the waste is: its List of Wastes code, a description, the quantity, and whether it is loose or in a container, and what kind
- when and where it changed hands
- who passed it on and who took it: the name and address of each, what each is (the producer, a registered carrier, a permit holder, a broker or dealer) with any registration or permit number, and both signatures
- the SIC code of the business passing it on
- a statement that the duty to apply the waste hierarchy has been met
A note with that detail lets the business taking the waste handle and dispose of it safely, which is the point of it.
What you are sent with a booking
Waste Central is a waste broker: the job is carried out by a licensed carrier, and the paperwork is assembled for you. For every booking a transfer note is produced recording the waste, the parties, our broker registration and the carrier's registration. It is requested from the carrier, checked and sent to you, within the price of the booking — from £366 for a 4-yard skip, including VAT.
- At checkout you accept a duty-of-care declaration for the load, and the date and time you accepted it are recorded with your booking.
- Afterwards a copy is sent to you and filed against your booking.
- Later, ask for another copy and it is sent again: transfer notes are kept for at least two years.
- With a trade account the notes are in the account.
What a transfer note does not do
It does not move the responsibility. Under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, whoever produces waste has a duty of care for it, and so does each business that carries, keeps or disposes of it, or arranges that as a broker. Theirs do not replace yours: no broker and no carrier can take that duty off you. The waste becomes the carrier's responsibility on collection; that does not release you from your own.
It records the transfer — what the waste was and who took it. It is not a record of everything that happened to the load afterwards. What stands behind that is the carrier's registration and the permit of the facility the load is taken to.
Checking the carrier
Any business that takes waste away must be a registered waste carrier, and each nation's environmental regulator keeps a public register: the Environment Agency's, in England. For a householder, making this check is how the duty is met.
Waste Central's own registration number is in the footer of every page, linked to the public register. Every carrier it arranges work with is checked on the register when they join, and their registration's expiry is watched every day: one that lapses is suspended automatically.
Where this comes from
The law is section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and regulation 35 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, as explained by the waste duty of care code of practice and GOV.UK's waste transfer notes page, all read on 12 October 2026. What a booking does is from Waste Central's terms and its booking process. This guide is information, not legal advice.