Managing controlled waste - code of practice consultation on duty of care: SG response

Section 7: Your Obligations as a Householder

Are you content with the clarity of this section and how it has changed from the current Code?

We received 14 responses to this question, of which 6 respondents answered ‘Yes’, 4 answered ‘No’, and 2 answered ‘Don’t Know’.

Stakeholders highlighted that the section is clear from a waste professional perspective, however it may not be clear enough from a public engagement standpoint.

In terms of suggested changes, key points raised by respondents included:

• A lack of awareness on the part of householders around their duty of care, and the need for public awareness campaigns and signage on acceptable use of civic amenity sites, or using booking systems, and on which plastics are recyclable and how to separate them.
• Limitations for households in terms of the collection services offered by their council.
• That the Code state more explicitly that any contractor removing waste from a household property must be registered with SEPA as a licensed waste carrier, and to verify a contractor’s registration, to ensure householders are aware to only use authorised operators.
• That this section could highlight the responsibility of householders to ensure that waste is presented for recycling or recovery, rather than defaulting to residual waste.

Government response:

We have made changes to the wording of this section based on consultation response suggestions.