Waste supplier monitoring checklist

An ongoing waste supplier review should answer a practical question: does the evidence still support the collection arrangement your business is using? Start with the current service, compare it with the previous review and investigate differences before recording a decision.

This checklist is a suggested business procedure for organisations in England, Scotland and Wales. The checking duties come from the applicable law and national guidance. The suggested fields, review workflow and follow-up dates are management recommendations, which you can adapt to your organisation.

Use the monitoring and supplier management guide for the wider approach. If you are deciding when to run the checklist, how often to check a waste supplier explains review intervals and changes that need attention between diary dates.

What should a waste supplier monitoring checklist include?

Give the reviewer a copy of the existing arrangement and ask them to record the evidence for each relevant question. A blank tick beside “permit checked” will be difficult to interpret later. A reference to the operator, facility and document makes the result usable by someone outside the original conversation.

You can use these questions in a spreadsheet or existing supplier system. Leave room for explanations and links to evidence. Where a question is not relevant, record why; where it is unanswered, keep that status visible until somebody resolves it.

Agree who manages supplier checks before assigning the checklist. A monitoring policy can record the scope, responsibilities and review process.

How do you define the waste service being reviewed?

Write down the premises and waste streams covered before opening registers. Identify whether the service is a direct collection, a brokered arrangement or one involving subcontractors. Include the named collector and destination where known. If either is missing, make the gap an action.

A single supplier might collect food waste from one branch and mixed packaging from another. Reviewing only its name could hide those different arrangements. Give each route enough detail to show which waste and receiving facility were considered.

Compare the scope with your previous decision. A new production process, refurbishment or clearance can introduce waste that was absent from the original review. Ask the person responsible for the premises whether anything has changed since the last assessment.

For each route, record the first forthcoming collection date if a question might affect it. That helps the review owner prioritise enquiries. A supplier can take time to answer a general information request, while a proposed handover tomorrow needs a decision about the information available now.

Which supplier identity details should you compare?

Compare the contracting business, the invoice details and the names attached to registrations or site authorisations. Where the supplier is a limited company, use its company number to help distinguish it from similarly named businesses. Identify the actual role of each entity involved.

A new trading name may be explained by the same legal business using different branding. A parent company may invoice centrally while another group company operates the site. Both situations need an accurate explanation in your records, rather than an assumption that any name in the group is interchangeable.

Use waste supplier names that do not match if the comparison raises questions. Ask for the relationship between the names and supporting references. Keep the explanation attached to the route so another reviewer does not repeat an enquiry already answered.

Company information can support identity research, but it does not establish waste authorisation. Companies House’s search service provides company details and filings. Treat those as a separate source from the regulator records needed to assess collecting and receiving activities.

How do you recheck the collecting carrier?

Find the business that actually collects the waste, including any subcontractor. Search the relevant official register using the registration reference where possible, then compare the result with the business details. Check the current status and applicable category rather than relying solely on a certificate supplied in an old onboarding pack.

In England, use the Environment Agency carrier, broker and dealer register. For Wales, follow Natural Resources Wales’ public register routes. Use SEPA’s register for relevant Scottish records, including its guidance on search limitations.

Keep the search outcome and the date you checked it. If the details cannot be matched, refine the search and seek clarification. A failed name search on its own does not establish that a business is unregistered; an unresolved match still needs attention before you rely on it.

Our waste carrier registration guide explains the detailed checks. If the collector has changed, use waste contractor subcontractor checks to establish who will carry out the proposed service and how the arrangement fits together.

What should you check about the waste destination?

Ask where the waste is intended to go and identify the facility, operator and relevant authorisation reference. A general answer such as “our recycling network” leaves the receiving arrangement unclear. Establish the information needed for the route you are reviewing.

The England and Wales duty of care code includes checking the intended destination and making further enquiries where there are concerns about handling. Natural Resources Wales’ duty of care guidance also tells producers using carriers to ask where the waste is going.

Compare the current destination with the earlier review and relevant collection records. Where it differs, ask when the change began and which waste streams or premises are affected. Establish whether it is temporary and what the supplier proposes afterwards.

Use what to check when a contractor changes destination for that assessment. If the destination remains unexplained, follow what to do when a contractor will not explain the destination and keep the enquiry open.

How do you check that the receiving site can take the waste?

Obtain the current relevant authorisation and check the facility and operator details. Examine the waste types, activities and conditions that matter to the proposed service. The existence of a register entry alone cannot establish that every collection the supplier offers fits it.

For a permitted facility, use how to read a waste permit. If an exemption is being relied upon, use waste site exemption checks and establish the applicable activity and limits. Scottish authorisation terminology and arrangements should be checked through Scottish waste authorisations.

Match the waste actually produced at your premises with the relevant scope. An outdated description can undermine the comparison. Ask site colleagues whether new materials or contamination have appeared and obtain competent classification advice where necessary.

Record any uncertainty precisely. “Need the current variation document to confirm the proposed waste stream” gives someone a task they can complete. “Permit issue” leaves the next reviewer wondering what was missing and whether the concern affected a specific load or the whole arrangement.

What changes should the reviewer look for?

Ask the supplier and your operational colleagues about changes since the last review. Compare the answer with the evidence available. Include collecting parties, receiving facilities, waste composition and relevant authorisation documents. Record the dates where they help establish which movements may be affected.

Avoid treating an unchanged company name as evidence that the service is unchanged. A familiar supplier can introduce a new subcontractor or route while continuing to use the same invoice template. Conversely, a harmless spelling correction may explain a changed register entry.

Check whether previous actions were completed. If a supplier promised to provide a document, find the response and establish whether it answered the question. An email acknowledgement is useful correspondence, but it does not necessarily resolve the original uncertainty.

The review triggers guide helps colleagues recognise changes outside scheduled reviews. If an automated alert or regulatory publication prompted this checklist, use investigating waste supplier alerts to verify its identity, dates and relevance before deciding what it means.

Which collection records should you compare?

Choose records that help answer the review question. For a changed route, look at movements around the reported change. For a recurring paperwork problem, examine enough examples to understand its extent. Explain any sampling approach and avoid describing a small sample as a complete check of every collection.

Compare the parties, producing premises and waste description with the arrangement. Look for unfamiliar names, inconsistent destination information or missing information that prevents you understanding a movement. Ask site staff whether collections happened as the documents suggest.

Waste transfer notes, hazardous waste consignment notes and Scottish special waste documents have different requirements. Use waste transfer notes versus consignment notes to identify the relevant document and follow the applicable national guidance.

An invoice or weighbridge ticket can provide supporting information, although its purpose and contents need checking. Invoices, weighbridge tickets and waste transfer notes explains when a document can fulfil a transfer-note role and when additional information is needed.

How should you record an unresolved supplier check?

State what you know and what remains unanswered. Identify the affected route and the evidence needed to resolve it. Give the task an owner and an action date linked to the next relevant collection or decision. Keep correspondence available to that owner and their deputy.

Useful outcomes include “review complete for this route”, “further information required” and “collection decision escalated”. Define any colours or short status labels your system uses. Staff should be able to distinguish a completed check from one waiting for evidence without reading every email.

Where there is a concern about unlawful handling, follow the applicable regulator guidance before a further handover. Section 3.2 of the England and Wales code says you must withhold waste if you suspect an inappropriate permit or exemption, or a breach of its conditions. Report suspected illegal activity or breaches to the relevant regulator.

If the concern is an apparent document mismatch, establish the facts promptly and avoid announcing an offence as a confirmed fact. Keep the operational decision and its reasons separate from allegations that have not been established. Appropriate advice may be needed where the evidence is complex.

Use our guide to following up unresolved checks when a question needs further evidence or a decision about forthcoming collections.

How does this checklist work for a typical review?

Consider a hypothetical warehouse reviewing its packaging waste service. The collector matches the original registration details, but two recent records name another receiving facility. The reviewer asks the contractor to explain the route and learns that the original facility has temporarily stopped taking this stream.

The reviewer adds the replacement facility to the checklist, obtains its operator and authorisation details and assesses the relevant scope. They also ask when the diversion began so the warehouse can identify affected movements. The enquiry is assigned to the environmental manager because another collection is due shortly.

The manager records the decision for the packaging route and updates the collection instructions. Other waste streams using different destinations remain separately identified. A follow-up date is set for the temporary arrangement, including confirmation of any return to the original facility.

The review file contains the evidence used and the supplier’s explanation. A colleague covering the next shift can see which facility has been considered and what still needs follow-up. They do not have to infer the decision from a tick beside the supplier’s name.

How can several sites share the monitoring work?

Share checks that genuinely apply to the same entity or authorisation, with a clear source and review date. Each producing location still needs to confirm its own service details. One head-office carrier check might support several branches, while each branch uses a different receiving facility.

Give site teams a simple way to report departures from the agreed arrangement. Provide the collecting business details and an escalation contact. Ask them to send the relevant paperwork or observation so the reviewer can investigate the actual issue.

Use managing waste suppliers across multiple sites when allocating central and local responsibilities. Include a deputy for urgent decisions and a way to tell all affected sites when the outcome changes their collection instructions.

What should you keep when the checklist is complete?

Save the review scope, evidence references and decision alongside unresolved actions and the next review date. Explain who made the decision and any limits on it. Retain superseded material where appropriate to explain changes, using your organisation’s retention arrangements.

Section 3.4 of the England and Wales code advises recording checks as evidence of meeting your duty of care. Required transfer or consignment records have separate legal requirements, so a completed checklist should not replace those documents. Your procedure should identify the applicable retention requirements for each document type.

Before issuing a revised checklist, give it a date or version identifier and retire obsolete blank copies from shared folders. Otherwise, one premises may continue asking last year’s questions while another uses the updated procedure. Keep completed earlier reviews available where appropriate, because they explain decisions about collections made under the previous arrangement.

Use recording supplier review evidence to make the file useful to future reviewers. Before closing the task, check that the person arranging the next collection can find the decision and knows whether any action remains outstanding.

Sources and further reading

• GOV.UK: waste duty of care code of practice for England and Wales.
• Scottish Government: waste producer duties.
• Natural Resources Wales: waste duty of care.
• Environment Agency: carriers, brokers and dealers public register.
• Natural Resources Wales: public registers.
• SEPA: public register search and help.
• Companies House: find and update company information.