DoE undermines duty of care with concessions to scrap trade

The Department of the Environment (DoE) has bowed to the scrap metal industry's sustained campaign against waste legislation by advising it not to be too concerned about key features of the "duty of care". But in doing so it has contradicted parts of its own code of practice on the duty, and waste regulators fear that the end result may be to undermine the duty's effectiveness in ensuring proper safeguards along the waste management chain.