Check a waste carrier before you pay
If you hand your rubbish to someone who isn't registered and it ends up dumped, you can be fined. Checking takes two minutes.
Open the Environment Agency register
Ask for their registration number
A business carrying other people's waste in England needs an upper tier registration. Numbers start with CBDU. A legitimate carrier will give it to you without fuss.
Look it up on the public register
Search the Environment Agency public register of waste carriers, brokers and dealers by number, business name or postcode. You can also phone the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506.
Check the details match
The name on the register should match the business you're dealing with, it should say upper tier, and the registration should be current. Upper tier registrations have to be renewed every three years.
Ask where the waste is going
A licensed carrier takes it to a permitted site. Leeds City Council advises asking where your waste is going.
Pay properly and keep the paperwork
Pay by card or bank transfer and get a receipt or waste transfer note with the carrier's details. Cash-only, no paperwork and a suspiciously low price are warning signs.
Why it matters
The law (Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34(2A)) puts a duty of care on householders to only hand waste to an authorised person. If you don't, and your waste is fly-tipped, you can get a fixed penalty: Leeds says £200, and councils in England can set it between £150 and £600. In court the fine can be higher. Government guidance says councils shouldn't fine someone who used an authorised carrier, even if they didn't check first, but checking is the easy way to be sure.
Our registration: [CBDU number + tier]. Look it up on the register yourself before you book us. We'd rather you checked.
More detail: How to check a waste carrier licence · Fly-tipping fines in Leeds