Waste Transfer Notes for Skip Hire Companies

Why Skip Hire Carries High Compliance Risk

Skip hire sits at the intersection of several factors that make waste compliance particularly challenging. Skip companies handle mixed waste from multiple different customers, often in the same vehicle on the same day. The exact contents of a skip are frequently unknown until it is tipped. Large volumes of collections mean that even a single compliance failure, an unsigned WTN, an inadequate waste description, a collection from an unidentified party, is a significant issue at scale.

The Environment Agency routinely targets skip companies in enforcement operations. Waste carriers operating skips are among the most frequently inspected businesses under the duty of care regime established by section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/2839). The EA can attend a skip company's yard and request production of WTNs for every collection made in the previous two years. A company that cannot produce them faces fixed penalty notices, prosecution, and potential suspension or revocation of its carrier registration.

Understanding exactly who bears what responsibility, and when, is the critical starting point for skip hire compliance.

Who Is the Transferor and Transferee in Skip Hire?

The roles of transferor and transferee in a skip hire transaction are frequently misunderstood, and this misunderstanding leads to systematic compliance failures.

When a skip company delivers an empty skip to a customer's premises, no WTN is required at that stage, no waste is being transferred. The customer is simply taking possession of an empty container. A delivery note or hire agreement covers this transaction.

When the skip company collects the filled skip, this is when the waste transfer occurs, and this is when a WTN must be completed. At the point of collection:

• The customer is the transferor, they are the waste producer or holder, and they are giving up possession of the waste.
• The skip company is the transferee, they are accepting the waste into their custody as a registered waste carrier.

Both parties must sign the WTN. Both must retain a copy for two years. The skip company must ensure it has a signed WTN for every collection, not just a delivery docket, skip hire form, or invoice reference. These commercial documents do not constitute a WTN and provide no regulatory protection.

When the skip company subsequently delivers the waste to a transfer station or disposal facility, a second WTN (or consignment note for hazardous waste) is required for that transaction, the skip company becomes the transferor and the facility becomes the transferee.

Describing Skip Waste Adequately

The waste description on a WTN is a legal requirement, and the most frequent enforcement point in skip hire operations. The Duty of Care Code of Practice 2016 (issued by DEFRA under section 34(7) EPA 1990) sets the standard: the description must be sufficient for anyone receiving the waste to handle it, treat it, and dispose of it appropriately, and to understand whether it requires any special precautions.

The following descriptions are not sufficient and will not withstand EA scrutiny:

• "General waste"
• "Mixed waste"
• "Skip contents"
• "Rubbish"
• "Trade waste"

A compliant description for a typical domestic or light commercial skip might read: "Mixed non-hazardous waste comprising plasterboard, timber offcuts, plastic packaging, cardboard, and general household-type waste from residential refurbishment." For a predominantly construction skip: "Mixed construction and demolition waste comprising concrete rubble, broken bricks, soil, and timber from site clearance."

The EWC code must also be correct. For mixed commercial/household content, 20 03 01 (mixed municipal waste) is typically appropriate. For mixed construction and demolition content, 17 09 04 (mixed C&D waste not containing hazardous substances) applies. Where the skip contains identifiable predominant waste types that can be coded separately, those should be listed. Using the wrong EWC code is a separate enforcement point from an inadequate description, both must be correct.

In practice, the skip company's driver will typically complete or countersign the WTN at the point of collection. Drivers must be trained to identify that the waste description provided by the customer is adequate, and must know that "general waste" is not. If a customer provides an inadequate description, the driver (and company) share responsibility for allowing an inadequate WTN to be completed.

Customer and Skip Company Responsibilities

Both the customer (as transferor) and the skip company (as transferee) have active, concurrent legal obligations under the duty of care regime. These cannot be contracted away, a skip hire agreement cannot transfer the customer's legal duty of care obligations to the skip company.

The customer's responsibilities as transferor include:

• Providing an accurate, specific description of what went in the skip
• Ensuring the waste description correctly identifies the EWC code
• Not placing prohibited items in the skip without disclosure (see below)
• Signing the WTN and retaining their copy for two years
• Verifying that the skip company is a registered waste carrier (check via the EA public register)

The skip company's responsibilities as transferee include:

• Checking that the waste description on the WTN is adequate before accepting it
• Verifying that the EWC code is appropriate for the described waste
• Not accepting waste they are not permitted to carry or that is outside the scope of their registration
• Signing the WTN and retaining their copy for two years
• Ensuring that the collection site is an authorised source (not, for example, an unidentified third party who has dumped waste in the skip)
• Delivering the waste only to sites with valid environmental permits or registered exemptions

A particularly difficult situation arises where a customer places hazardous items in a skip without disclosing this, for example, putting fluorescent tubes or paint cans among general waste. If the skip company accepts such a load without adequate checks and the hazardous material is subsequently discovered at the disposal facility, the skip company may face enforcement action even if they did not know what was in the skip. The obligation to ensure the waste description is adequate means skip companies cannot simply rely on the customer's assurance.

Season Tickets: Annual WTNs for Regular Customers

For customers who regularly hire skips for the same type of waste, for example, a building contractor who hires a skip from the same company every month for mixed C&D waste, completing a separate full WTN for every collection creates significant administrative burden. The season ticket mechanism addresses this.

A season ticket is an annual WTN that covers multiple transfers of the same waste between the same parties over a defined period (up to 12 months). The legal basis for season tickets is the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991, Regulation 3(2), which permits a single written description to cover a series of transfers provided the waste is the same and the parties are the same.

For a valid season ticket in skip hire:

• The transferor must be the same person or entity for all transfers covered
• The skip company (transferee) must be the same for all transfers covered
• The waste type and EWC code must be the same for all transfers covered
• The collection address must be the same or clearly specified
• The start and end dates of the season ticket period must be stated
• Both parties must sign the season ticket at the outset
• Both parties must retain a copy for two years after the end of the season ticket period

Season tickets cannot be used for one-off customers, for varying waste types, or for situations where the parties change. A skip company that issues a season ticket to cover collections from changing customers at a commercial estate, for example, is not complying with the legal requirements. Each different customer requires their own individual WTN (or their own season ticket if they themselves are a regular customer).

For a full guide to season tickets and how to use them correctly, see our article on season tickets for waste transfers.

Hazardous Waste in Skips

Standard skip hire is for non-hazardous waste only. A skip operating under a standard waste carrier registration is not authorised to carry hazardous waste, and standard WTNs cannot cover hazardous waste movements. The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/894) require consignment notes, not WTNs, for all hazardous waste transfers.

Common items that customers attempt to place in general skips that are actually hazardous waste:

• Fluorescent tubes and lamps (EWC 20 01 21*), contain mercury; hazardous waste
• Batteries (EWC 20 01 33*), lead-acid, lithium, nickel-cadmium; hazardous waste
• Paint containing organic solvents (EWC 08 01 11* or 20 01 27*), hazardous
• Waste solvents and cleaning fluids (EWC 14 06 03* or similar), hazardous
• Asbestos-containing materials (EWC 17 06 05*), hazardous; also subject to CAWR 2012
• Electrical equipment containing hazardous components (EWC 20 01 35*), hazardous
• Contaminated soil (EWC 17 05 03*), hazardous if contaminated with pollutants

Skip companies should train customer-facing staff and drivers to identify these materials. If found in a skip that was booked as general waste, the skip should not be accepted until the customer provides a proper explanation and the waste is reclassified and managed correctly. Accepting hazardous waste as non-hazardous and covering it with a standard WTN is a serious criminal offence.

Fly-Tipping and Carrier Liability

Fly-tipping, the illegal deposit of waste, is one of the most serious waste offences in England and Wales. Under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the illegal deposit of controlled waste is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine on indictment. The landowner on whose land waste is dumped can be required to clear it at their own expense.

The waste transfer note system is the primary mechanism by which the EA traces fly-tipped waste back to its source. Waste found at an illegal dump is forensically examined, invoices, delivery notes, waste labels, and WTNs found in or near the waste are used to identify who produced it and who carried it. If waste is traced to a skip company, for example, because the fly-tip contains waste from a skip the company collected, or a WTN in the waste names the company as carrier, the skip company will face questions about where that waste should have gone and why it ended up illegally dumped.

A valid, properly completed WTN showing that the skip company transferred the waste to a licensed facility is the skip company's primary defence. A missing WTN, or one that is inadequate or unsigned, removes that defence. The EA has successfully prosecuted skip companies for fly-tipping offences on the basis that the company facilitated or enabled the illegal disposal, even where the skip company's staff did not physically dump the waste.

Skip companies must also be vigilant about accepting waste from unidentified third parties. If someone asks a skip company to collect a filled skip from a location with no identified customer, no existing account, and no signed WTN, this is a significant red flag. Accepting waste in these circumstances and subsequently disposing of it illegally is a pattern the EA actively investigates.

Record-Keeping for Skip Companies

Given the volumes involved in skip hire, robust record-keeping is not merely good practice, it is commercially essential. Skip companies must retain WTNs for a minimum of two years from the date of each transfer, under Regulation 3(4) of the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991. For a company making dozens of collections per day, this represents thousands of documents over the retention period.

Digital storage is strongly recommended for skip companies for several reasons: paper WTNs are easily lost, damaged, or misfiled at the scale of a busy skip company's operations; digital records are instantly searchable during an EA inspection; and digital systems allow WTNs to be signed by drivers on mobile devices at the point of collection, eliminating the risk of incomplete or unsigned notes.

Season tickets should also be retained for the full two-year period after their expiry. A season ticket covering January to December 2025 must be retained until at least December 2027.

The EA has the right under section 71 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to enter the premises of a waste carrier and inspect records at any time without prior notice. During such an inspection, the EA may ask to see WTNs for any or all collections during the previous two years. A company that can produce these records promptly and completely demonstrates strong compliance culture; one that cannot faces immediate enforcement action.