What the law actually requires when business IT leaves your building, and how to check a supplier is licensed.
Last updated 7 August 2026 · Written by the team at Revolve ITAD Solutions, Sowerby Bridge
Short answer: yes. If you are a business disposing of IT equipment in England, you have a legal duty of care over that waste, and that duty does not end when someone drives away with it. Here is what that means in practice.
Businesses producing waste have a duty of care requiring, among other things, that waste is transferred only to an authorised person and that the transfer is documented. "Authorised person" has a specific meaning — it is not simply someone who agreed to take it.
The critical point that catches people out: you cannot contract out of this responsibility. If your equipment is fly-tipped, the trail can lead back to you, and "we paid a company to take it away" is not a defence if you never checked that company was registered.
Anyone transporting your waste must be registered with the Environment Agency as a waste carrier. The register is public and free.
Apply this to us too. Our registration is and the register link is in our footer. A supplier who cannot produce a number cannot lawfully move your waste, and one who is reluctant to give you it is telling you something useful.
At minimum, a waste transfer note or equivalent documentation recording what was transferred, when, between whom, and where it was going. Keep these records — for standard waste transfers the expectation is two years.
For IT specifically, that legal minimum is rarely enough on its own. Because retired IT holds personal data, you have a second and separate obligation under UK GDPR, which the waste paperwork does not address at all.
| Waste duty of care | Concerns the physical material. Satisfied by transfer documentation and using a registered carrier. |
|---|---|
| UK GDPR | Concerns the data on the device. You remain the data controller until the data is verifiably destroyed. Satisfied by evidence of destruction. |
A weighbridge ticket satisfies the first and does nothing for the second. This is why serialised certificates of destruction matter: they are the only documentation that ties a specific device to a specific outcome.
Some IT waste falls into hazardous categories — CRT monitors and certain batteries in particular — and carries stricter handling and documentation requirements. If you are disposing of older display equipment or quantities of loose batteries, mention it when you book so it is handled and documented correctly rather than discovered on the day.
After a properly handled collection you should hold:
If a supplier provides only the first of those, you have met the waste requirement and left the data requirement entirely unaddressed.
This guide is general information about business waste duty of care in England, not legal advice. Requirements differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. If you are unsure of your obligations, check the current Environment Agency guidance or take professional advice.
Call us and ask. We would rather give you a straight answer than a brochure — even if the answer is that you do not need us.
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