Waste Carrier Licences – Don’t feed the flytippers!
Waste Carrier Licence details: The Colchester House Clearances website is one of the Essex House Clearances group of websites. In accordance with UK laws we are are fully licenced under UK Environmental Agency legislation with an Upper-Tier waste carrier licence. An Upper-Tier waste carrier licence is a legal requirement for any organisation or individual who offers any form of waste or property clearance service for a third party. This differs from a ‘lower tier’ licence which is only valid if the organisation clearing your property is a registered charity / voluntary group.
Why does a waste licence matter?
Parts of the Essex countryside, especially around Colchester, have long been favourite dumping grounds for fly-tippers. These unethical individuals (and sometimes firms) offer dirt-cheap clearance services, take your money and then dump your belongings in the countryside.
Waste carrier licences are issued by the UK Environmental Agency to add traceability and require holders to dispose of unwanted items at registered recycling stations. Anyone offering clearance services must have an upper-tier waste carrier licence by law. This licence only costs £150 for 3 years. There is also a (free) lower-tier licence available, but these are for businesses which dispose of their own waste – NOT yours – or for registered charities / voluntary organisations.
It’s fair to say that if someone breaks the law to save the £150 licence fee, the chances are pretty good that they’ll also avoid paying to dispose of your house contents legally (typically £190-200 per ton or a full 3.5 ton transit van load). If you’d rather that the contents of your property don’t get chucked over a hedge in a quiet country lane, you should only deal with properly licenced companies. Remember that if contacted by the council or police you’ll need to prove it wasn’t you who dumped it there. The obvious risk is that your dirt-cheap waste removal costs could turn into an expensive conviction for fly-tipping!
Licences for all registered UK clearance companies can be checked here: https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers or you can go straight to our licence by clicking the Gov.uk link below.
