If your confidential shredding supplier sends you an invoice line for an “Annual Duty of Care Certificate”, “Annual Compliance Certificate” or “Waste Audit Pack” (usually £80–£150 + VAT), you’re almost certainly paying for something the law does **not** require.
At BWSL we see this charge on almost every shredding invoice we’re asked to beat — and we remove it completely for our customers.
“There is no requirement for an annual waste transfer note or annual duty of care certificate. A waste transfer note is required for each transfer of waste.”
Source: Environment Agency – Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice (updated 2025)
In plain English:
One Waste Transfer Note (WTN) per shredding collection = fully compliant.
An extra “annual certificate” = optional paperwork some companies charge for.
Why the big shredding companies still charge it?
- It’s an easy £80–£150 of almost pure profit every year
- Most customers assume it’s a legal must-have
- It’s been on invoices for so long that nobody questions it
We’ve taken over hundreds of shredding contracts in the North West and have never once had to issue an “annual certificate” to stay compliant — because the monthly WTNs we supply already do the job.
How BWSL handles duty of care (100 % free)
- Waste Transfer Note issued with **every single collection**
- Certificate of Destruction supplied same day (the bit you actually need for GDPR)
