From November 21, 2005, all householders in England will have a responsibility, under the waste 'Duty of Care', to ensure their rubbish is passed on to authorised carriers only. And those householders not taking reasonable measures to do so, could face fines of up to £5,000.

Registered waste carriers, other than the local council, can now be found online thanks to a new 'waste carrier register', set up by the Environment Agency.

Last year, there were 500,000 fly-tips of household rubbish; much of which was dumped by operators posing as legitimate waste carriers.

Commenting on the new regulations, Chartered Institute of Waste Management Chief Executive, Mr Steve Lee said, ‘It is only right that householders should be included in the loop in terms of dealing with waste responsibly. Fly-tipping is already costing about £1 million a week.

‘Householders often pay for waste to be removed, and sometimes it simply gets dumped in a lay-by or field – surely not what the vast majority were intending. The new ‘duty of care’ could play an important part in raising awareness of the issues and changing behaviour,  but it needs to be supported by an effective communications programme rather than just appearing on the statute books.

‘All of us involved in policy development – Government, local authorities, sector bodies and contractors – need to play our part in getting the messages across.’ The ‘duty of care’ principle is going through a number of changes currently which may mean that more people will be looking to us for guidance – it is important that we are ready to give good and timely advice.’