Waste Management Act, 1996

PART IV

Holding, Collection and Movement of Waste

General duty of a holder of waste.

32.—(1) A person shall not hold, transport, recover or dispose of waste in a manner that causes or is likely to cause environmental pollution.

(2) A person shall not, save in such circumstances as may be specified under subsection (4), transfer the control of waste to any person other than an appropriate person.

(3) A holder of waste shall, without delay, inform—

(a) the local authority in whose functional area the loss, spillage, or other matter mentioned in this subsection occurs, or

(b) in the case of hazardous waste, both the said local authority and the Agency,

of any loss, spillage, accident or other development concerning that waste which causes, or is likely to cause, environmental pollution.

(4) The Minister may by regulations—

(a) provide that the holder of a specified class or classes of waste shall effect and maintain a policy of insurance insuring him or her to a specified extent as respects any liability on his or her part to pay damages or costs on account of injury to person or property arising from the holding by him or her of the waste,

(b) provide that on the transfer of waste, in specified circumstances, the holder of the waste shall provide to the transferee specified particulars in writing of the waste so as to enable that person to avoid a contravention of the relevant provisions of this Act,

(c) provide that subsection (2) shall not apply in specified circumstances.

(5) In this section “an appropriate person” means a local authority, the corporation of a borough that is not a county borough, the council of an urban district, or a person otherwise authorised under and in accordance with this Act or the Act of 1992 to undertake the collection, recovery or disposal of the class of waste in question.

(6) (a) A person who contravenes subsection (1), (2) or (3) or a provision of regulations under subsection (4) shall be guilty of an offence.

(b) In a prosecution for a contravention of subsection (1), it shall be a good defence to prove that the activity concerned was carried on in accordance with a waste collection permit or waste licence under this Act or a licence or revised licence under Part IV of the Act of 1992.

(7) Without prejudice to subsection (6), where a person transfers the control of waste to another person in contravention of subsection (2)

(a) any act done or instrument made by a person to transfer title in the waste for that purpose shall not operate to transfer that title,

(b) the first-mentioned person shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a holder, in addition to the second-mentioned person, of the waste:

Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as requiring either of the said persons to be held to be a holder of the waste on or after the date on which a subsequent transfer (if any), of the control of the waste in accordance with subsection (2) is effected.