Ownership of the electronic duty of care (edoc) system has transferred from the Environment Agency (EA) to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland’s Department of Environment (DOE NI).
Developed under a four-year project co-financed by the European Commission (through LIFE+ funding) and led by the EA in partnership with the waste sector and the devolved governments, edoc allows waste transfer notes (WTNs) to be completed electronically rather than by hand to save ‘time, effort and money’.
Via the online portal, which launched in January 2014, users can:
- create WTNs and season tickets and share them between the parties involved;
- review, edit, sign and store WTNs securely online;
- view a permanent log of all actions performed on a WTN, by whom, and when; and
- use a tracking feature for transfers involving more than one movement.
The system aims to streamline the reporting system, improve data gathering, and improve the control of waste (and accountability). However, it remains a voluntary system. To date, nearly 2,000 businesses have signed up to use edoc rather than complete paper WTNs.
It is thought that the transfer of ownership from the EA to the devolved governments could enable some UK countries to make the system mandatory.
‘Encouraging businesses to go digital’
All four UK administrations said they ‘fully support’ edoc and are committed to maintaining the system.
Dan Rogerson, Defra’s Resource Minister, said: “We are committed to supporting edoc for the foreseeable future and are encouraging businesses to go digital, through the edoc Technical Advisory Group and our work with the resource industry and CIWM [the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management].”
Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, added: “edoc can help reduce the administrative burdens on the waste industry, while simultaneously providing a rich source of data to support sound policy-making. As we increasingly look to secure and maintain the highest value use for our waste materials in a more circular economy, the Scottish Government is pleased to support and promote edoc alongside the other UK administrations.”
Speaking on behalf of the Welsh Government, Minister for Natural Resources Carl Sargeant said that Wales was supporting edoc “because of the benefits it offers users” and the fact that it “makes it easy to store and search for records and for businesses to fulfil their legal duty of care for waste”.
Find out more about edoc.
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