Trade Waste (commercial waste)

Who is responsible for increasing the price?

The Council has a duty to provide a cost effective service. The charges are agreed by the Council and are subject to the Council’s formal sign off of its corporate fees and charges schedule.

Why are the prices changing?

There are some unavoidable increase due to the rise in overhead costs, such as transport, fuel, and wages, all of which are beyond our control and the impact of which we cannot absorb through further efficiency.

Your services are too expensive…I am going to change to a different provider.

The Council provides a cost-effective service. We remain confident that our prices remain good value for money.

We will require you to write to us at by email  to inform us formally of your decision. This is subject to subject to a three months’ notice period as detailed in your contract. An early termination fee will be applied where the notice period is not observed.

We are in some circumstances able to discuss price matching, this option is subject to the production of a genuine quote offer and our ability to carry out the service at the quoted price.

We will require you to email us requesting a price match, with a copy of your recent quotation and we will respond accordingly.

If you choose a different provider

Please ensure you take reasonable steps to ensure your waste is managed legally and properly. This is a legal requirement imposed under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Failing to take responsibility for the safe disposal of business waste can have serious consequences. Penalties can range from a fixed notice fine to potential imprisonment for the most severe offences.

This links below provide information on managing your waste  and waste offences . 

What can you offer me in terms of a discount?

We are no longer able to offer a discounted rate for our waste service, however we can in some circumstances offer a price matching option, and this is subject to the production of a genuine quote offer and our ability to carry out the service at the quoted price.

We will require you to email us  requesting a price match, with a copy of your recent quotation and we will respond accordingly.

Why should I stay with you?

As a business owner, you are free to choose any registered waste carrier to provide your commercial waste collection service, the Council is however a trusted local operator – ensuring you receive a reliable and cost-effective service (that is also VAT free), offering a full assurance of legal compliance – giving you peace of mind. We have a comprehensive range of recycling services – minimising your costs and meeting your legal duties, and environmentally friendly - minimum carbon footprint and effectively zero to landfill.

Why is there an administration fee for a failure to return a Duty of Care/Waste Transfer?

There is currently no charge for the Duty of Care /Waste Transfer Notice. To ensure sure we can collect and dispose of your waste legally, we must receive a signed and correct Duty of Care /Waste Transfer Notice legal documentation.

An administration fee of £120.00, will be applied if you fail to return the documentation within 14 days of the date of issue

If the Duty of Care /Waste Transfer Notice document has not be within 7days of the administration fee being applied, the trade waste service will be termination with immediate effect. The £120.00 administration fee will remain on the account to be paid in full, failure to make any outstanding payments will be progress through the debt recovery programme.

Early Termination Fee

As a business owner, you are free to choose any registered waste carrier to provide your commercial waste collection service, should you choose to cancel your commercial waste contract with the Council, we require 3 months’ notice.  If you fail to provide the sufficient notice period, an administration fee of £50.00 will be applied to the account and remain on the account to be paid in full, failure to make any outstanding payments will be progress through the debt recovery programme

Commercial waste, also known as trade waste, is all waste generated as a result of operating a business, regardless of their size and whether they are part of your home.

Delivering commercial waste collection is not a statutory service for the Council and a reasonable charge is required to be made by the Council to ensure that it recovers the full cost of commercial waste removal and disposal.

As a business owner, you are free to choose any registered waste carrier to provide your commercial waste collection service. Some reasons we would say to choose the Council include:

• Trusted local operator – ensuring you receive a reliable and cost-effective service (that is also VAT free)
• Full assurance of legal compliance – giving you peace of mind
• Comprehensive range of recycling services – minimising your costs and meeting your legal duties
• Environmentally friendly - minimum carbon footprint and effectively zero to landfill. 

We are confident of our ability to provide a value for money service and generally will match like-for-like quotes for trade waste services in the area having received proof of quote and subject to an individual assessment of your needs.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, all businesses, including those operating from home, have a legal ‘Duty of Care’ to take all reasonable steps to ensure that their waste (including recyclable materials) is
properly managed.

This includes ensuring that your waste is managed correctly through its complete journey to disposal or recovery, meaning you must

• prevent unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste
• prevent a breach (failure) by any other person to meet the requirement to have an environmental
• permit, or a breach of a permit condition
• prevent the escape of waste from your control
• ensure that any person you transfer the waste to has the correct authorisation
• provide an accurate description of the waste when it is transferred to another person

Failure to comply with the Duty of Care requirements is a criminal offence and could lead to prosecution resulting in a £300 fixed penalty notice or action being taken in the Magistrates’ Court, with a maximum fine of £5,000, if a business fails to comply with the legislation.

If that all sounds a bit complicated it isn't. Your waste contractor should advise you on this.

It is important that you ensure your contractor is fully licensed. Your main legal responsibilities include that you:

• Only fill the containers with the allowable materials as described in your Controlled Waste Transfer Note (CWTN).
• Don’t overfill your containers (as this may mean waste is not appropriately contained)
• Take good care of the containers (as damage to them may result in escape of waste)
• You make full use of the recycling facilities available to fulfil your duty under the Waste Hierarchy.

For further information about business waste and your responsibility please follow the links to the NetRegs website or the government website and the Environment Agency.

Reducing harmful environmental impact is in everyone’s interest and it is also good business as it reduces your waste costs. Applying the waste hierarchy is the method of doing this as it means you should deal with your waste in the following way:

• Prevent the creation of waste (most favoured option)
• Minimise amount of waste produced
• Reuse materials that would otherwise need to be treated as waste
• Recycle as much material as practicable
• Recover energy
• Dispose of material by landfill (least favoured option)

This is a legal duty and by applying the waste hierarchy you will fulfil your legal duty (as required by regulation 12 of the Waste (England & Wales) Regulations 2011).

The council is committed to providing advice and guidance to its customers and to providing a comprehensive range of recycling services. Only a tiny fraction (0.5 per cent) of the commercial waste that we collect from local businesses goes to  landfill. 

Fly tipping is illegal and you could be prosecuted if you do so. It is also illegal to place business waste in a domestic bin or take it to a household waste recycling centre for disposal.

We would advise you to take care in using ‘man in a van’ type services unless you check that they are appropriately licensed, which is something you can check by asking to see their Waste Carriers License or looking up on the Environment Agency’s website.

If you use an unlicensed contractor and the waste is traced back to you, then you will be subject to prosecution.

Bin sizes start at 120 litres, which is the size of a domestic refuse bin. The largest bin is 1100 litres, which has four wheels and a roll top lid.

Healthcare waste or clinical waste is subject to separate legislation and is not acceptable in trade waste bins because it poses a health and safety risk in terms of threat of infection.

Types of clinical waste include human or animal tissue, blood, swabs or dressings and syringes and needles

Ask us for a tailored quote. Our prices are always competitive but can vary depending on your individual needs. We will always assess your individual needs to develop the most appropriate and cost-effective solution. Contact the team by email.

We will collect your waste to suit your needs as long as it is operationally practicable and commercially viable for us to do so. You can request regular collection either weekly or fortnightly.

You can contact us if you need to change collection frequency or request an additional collection. 

Our missed collection rate is very low. You should report a missed bin if your bin was put out on the correct collection day and at the agreed place before 7am. There may be occasions where operational reasons mean we cannot make a collection as scheduled, for example, if there has been a vehicle breakdown, in which case we will use all reasonable endeavours to catch up overdue collections.

You can pay your trade waste bill online via our website here, where you can pay things like business rates. Please make sure you have the invoice reference number to hand.

Pay trade waste bill

Our trade waste collections are carried out by Allerdale Waste Services Limited (AWSL).

AWSL is 100 per cent owned and so ultimately controlled by the council. However, it is separate from the council and arms-length in nature, so it can operate in a flexible and business-like way.

AWSL's purpose is: To deliver high quality waste and recycling services to the residents and businesses of Allerdale on behalf of the council that represent demonstrable value for money.

We collect information about you when you subscribe to the trade waste service. We collect the following information:

• Name
• Property address
• Email address
• Telephone number

How we will use this information: When you subscribe, we collect information about you to allow us to provide the service, to allow us to contact you in relation to the renewal of your current subscription and to provide any necessary service updates. Your details will not be passed to any outside organisation or third party.

You can review our privacy statement