Duty of care code of practice for managing controlled waste (consultation draft)

9. Glossary

Basic Characterisation

The Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) and Council Decision (2003/33/EC) established criteria and procedures for the acceptance of waste at landfills including a requirement for their basic characterisation. These requirements are now provided for by schedule 13 (landfill activities) of The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018

Broker

Any undertaking arranging the recovery or disposal of waste on behalf of others, including those brokers who do not take physical possession of the waste.

Construction Work

The carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work and includes: construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation or other maintenance, decommissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure.

Construction and Demolition Waste

Waste arising from works of construction or demolition, including preparatory works thereto.

Controlled Waste

Defined in Section 75(4) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as “household, industrial and commercial waste or any such waste”.

Co-mingled waste

Co-mingled collections are where some, or all, of the key dry recyclables are collected together in the same container and later sorted at a Materials Recycling Facility.

Dealer

Any undertaking which acts in the role of principal to purchase and subsequently sell waste including dealers who do not take physical possession of that waste.

Dry Recyclable waste

Dry recyclable waste means controlled waste that is—

(a)glass;

(b)metals;

(c)plastics, including plastic film [from 31 March 2027];

(d)paper; or

(e)card (including cardboard),

Enforcement Officer

An officer of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or Local Authority who has powers in connection with the investigation of actual or suspected offences, the detection of offenders and to act in respect of such environmental offences.

Environmental Authorisation

An authorisation permit issued under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (as amended).

Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018

Legislation that brings into effect an integrated authorisation framework for activities that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency regulates, including waste from 1 November 2025. Includes four common tiers of authorisation for activities that may cause harm to the environment.

Environmental Harm

Environmental harm means—

(a) harm to the health of human beings or other living organisms,

(b) harm to the quality of the environment, including—

(i) harm to the quality of the environment taken as a whole,

(ii) harm to the quality of air, water or land, and

(iii) other impairment of, or interference with, ecosystems,

(c) offence to the senses of human beings,

(d) damage to property, or

(e) impairment of, or interference with, amenities or other legitimate uses of the environment.

Environmental Protection Act 1990

The main body of legislation in relation to waste which also sets out the requirements of the Duty of Care with respect to waste.

Food Business

Defined in section 34(4B) of the 1990 Act as an undertaking, whether for profit or not, and whether public or private, carrying out any activity related to the processing, distribution, preparation or sale of food.

Food Waste

Defined in section 75(7B) of the 1990 Act as controlled waste that was at any time food intended for human consumption (even if of no nutritional value), and includes biodegradable waste produced as consequence of the processing or preparation of food, but does not include drink.

Green List Waste

Waste which is not, for the purposes of import or export for recovery, regarded as hazardous. Green list controls apply to some (but not all) imports or exports.

Householder The occupier of any domestic property.

Household waste

Household waste means waste from:

(a) domestic property, that is to say, a building or self-contained part of a building which is used wholly for the purposes of living accommodation;

(b) a caravan (as defined in section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960) which usually and for the time being is situated on a caravan site (within the meaning of that Act);

(c) a residential home;

(d) premises forming part of a university or school or other educational establishment;

(e) premises forming part of a hospital or which are used to provide a care home service (as defined by section 2(3) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 (asp 8)) and also includes waste defined to be household waste by the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992.

Holder of Waste

The producer of the waste or the natural or legal person that is in possession of it or who has control of it.

Pollution of the Environment

Defined in section 29 of the 1990 Act as pollution due to the release or escape (into any environmental medium) from:

• the land on which controlled waste is treated,
• the land on which controlled waste is kept,
• the land in or on which controlled waste is deposited,
• fixed plant by means of which controlled waste is treated, kept or disposed of, of substances or articles constituting or resulting from the waste and capable (by reason of the quantity or concentrations involved) of causing environmental harm.

Public Registers

A register maintained by SEPA of all registrations and permits issued, including those for transporting waste, acting as a waste broker or dealer, or operating a waste management facility.

Recovery

Recovery means any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy.

Recycling

Recycling means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations;

Rural area

Rural is defined using the six-fold classification system used by Scottish Government. Rural areas are set out in the Scottish Government’s guide to defining rural and non rural areas to support zero waste policies which provides post code areas which benefit from the exemption.

Season Ticket

A mechanism for allowing a transfer note to cover multiple transfers for a period of up to 12 months rather than using multiple individual transfer notes. Also known as a ‘annual waste transfer note’.

Separate Collection

As set out in section 29(5A)(ba) of the 1990 Act, waste presented for collection, and collected, in a manner that ensures that—

• dry recyclable waste is kept separate from other waste;
• waste from one dry waste stream is kept separate from waste in another such stream.”

SIC Codes

SIC is the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (2007). The SIC code is used to classify business establishments and other statistical units by the type of economic activities they are engaged in. You are required to record the appropriate SIC code of the transferor on all controlled waste transfer notes. Relevant codes can be determined from the Office of National Statistics.

Transferee

The person (or undertaking) receiving the waste.

Transferor

The person (or undertaking) holding the waste and who transfers it to another (different) person (or undertaking).

Transfer Note

A note which must be created for any transfer of controlled waste. The note must be signed by both parties and must contain certain prescribed information about the waste to be transferred. It must contain a written description of the waste and any further information required for the next and subsequent holders of the waste to manage it without causing pollution of the environment or environmental harm. A specimen note is provided in Section 8 of this guidance.

Transporter of waste

Any person (or establishment or undertaking) transporting waste within Scotland.

Transporting waste registration

The type of registration that must be obtained from SEPA before a person may collect and transport waste produced by other people.

Transporting your own waste only registration

The type of registration that must be obtained from SEPA before a person may transport waste they have produced themselves.

Waste

Any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard but not including by-products

Waste Collection Authority

A local authority responsible for collecting waste as defined in Section 30 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Waste Manager

Anyone who is responsible for storage, treatment (including sorting),recovery and disposal of waste, includinthe supervision of such operations and the after-care of disposal sites and any actions taken as a broker or dealer.

Waste Producer

Any person whose activities produce waste (original waste producer) or anyone who carries out pre-processing, mixing or other operations which result in a change in the nature or composition of this waste.

WEEE

Waste electrical and electronic equipment, that is equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 volts for alternating current and 1500 volts for direct current which has become waste.

Written Description

Information required in a transfer note identifying the nature and characteristics of the waste including information required for the next and subsequent holders of the waste to manage it without causing pollution of the environment or environmental harm.

Undertaking

Any organisation, whether a company, partnership, authority, society, trust, club, charity, sole trader or other organisation, but not individuals acting in a private capacity.