Starting a rubbish removal business

Anyone in England who carries waste as part of a business must register with the Environment Agency. Taking other people’s waste away for money needs an upper-tier registration, as does carrying any construction or demolition waste.

Carrying waste without being registered can mean an unlimited fine. Once you’re registered, anyone can look you up: check your registration.

Public liability insurance protects you if you damage a customer’s property or someone is hurt. Every collector on scrapmarket needs a current certificate before they can quote.

You can only take waste to a site with a permit to accept it. Find the permitted sites near you, check what each one takes, and keep every tip receipt or weighbridge ticket.

• A waste transfer note for every load you take from a business, kept for two years.
• Sofas, armchairs and other upholstered seats may contain POPs. They must be kept apart from other waste and sent for incineration, never to landfill.
• Hazardous waste needs consignment notes and a specialist, so most small carriers don’t take it.

Waste transfer notes explained.

On scrapmarket, householders and businesses post jobs with photos, the load size and access notes. You quote your own price, collect, tip at a licensed site and upload the ticket, and we pay you once we’ve checked it. There’s nothing to join; we take a fee only on completed jobs. How it works for collectors.