skip to content
This black and white header is for the print version of the page

Local Environment

North Wessex Downs Living and working in a clean and pleasant place can make us feel better about ourselves and the area in which we live.
Successfully tackling litter, fly-tipping, graffiti and other local environmental problems can have benefits for not only your business, by improving the quality of your surrounding area and the well-being of your employees, but can attract investment, leading to economic regeneration.

All businesses have certain responsibilities when it comes to their local environment. This covers problems including litter, graffiti, fly-tipping and waste.

Litter

Your business must ensure that any litter on your land is cleaned up. The council can serve a Litter Clearing Notice on your company if you do not take action.

Graffiti

While the council is responsible for cleaning graffiti off public property, if the graffiti occurs on privately owned buildings or property, such as bus shelters or telephone boxes, it is the responsibility of the company that owns these to clean it up. To find out what support is available from the council, please click here

Fly-Tipping

Your business has a responsibility to dispose of your waste properly. This means either having the waste collected by a registered waste carrier or taking your own waste to a licensed disposal site.

You also have a duty to prevent fly-tipping from occurring on land under your ownership.

Waste

All businesses produce waste, whether this is a few sheets of scrap paper to several skip loads a week. When you create waste, you have a ‘Duty of Care’ to ensure the waste is kept safe, stored appropriately and disposed of properly.

The Duty of Care applies to all businesses, regardless of size. Further information on your Duty of Care can be found by clicking here

      • Duty of Care Do's and Don'ts

Dos

Don'ts

Arrange a waste/recycling agreement with an authorised waste management company or individual                           Don’t dispose of any waste at an unauthorised waste management site. This includes the Household Waste Recycling Centre on Wade Road, which is only licenced to accept household waste
Provide a full, clear written description of the waste                   Don’t transfer your waste to someone who may not be authorised, such as a ‘man in a van’
Make sure your waste is properly stored Don’t use a council-run recycling bring site for your business waste. Even if you are recycling the correct items, you will not be completing the required paperwork and the act of leaving commercial waste there will be a criminal offcence
Keep all paperwork for at least 2 years Don’t take your commercial waste home and put it out with your household bins. Your business rates do not cover that service
Notify the authorities if are suspicious about a waste disposal arrangement Don’t think this law doesn’t apply to you because you are too small. This law applies to all producers of commercial and industrial waste.