How to check a waste carrier’s licence before anyone takes your rubbish

20 October 2026 · 3 min read

Anyone who takes waste away from your home has to be a registered waste carrier. That is not a formality. If your rubbish is fly-tipped and it traces back to you, you can be penalised even though you did not dump it yourself.

Your duty of care

Householders have a legal duty of care for their waste. That includes taking reasonable steps to check that the person collecting it is allowed to. If you hand it to someone who is not, you can face a fixed penalty or a prosecution.

How to check in two minutes

1. Ask for the carrier’s registration number before they load anything. A genuine carrier will give it without hesitation and put it on their paperwork.
2. Search for it on the government’s public register of waste carriers.
3. Check that the name on the register matches the name on the van and the quote. A number that belongs to a different business is a warning sign.
4. Ask for a waste transfer note afterwards. It is your proof of who took the waste and what it was.

What you will get from us

Collections are carried out by Invent Recycling Ltd, a registered waste carrier, licence CBDU497669, which you can look up yourself on that register. Every collection gets a digital waste transfer note sent the same day, naming the carrier and the licence number.

Red flags

• No licence number, or “I will sort it later”.
• Cash only, no receipt and no paperwork.
• A price that is far below everyone else’s.
• Only a mobile number and an advert on a social media page.