What happens to the material dug out of my driveway?

A domestic driveway dig produces several tonnes of soil, hardcore and old surfacing, and none of it is ordinary rubbish. Under the duty of care in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, controlled waste must be transferred only to an authorised person and must be accompanied by a written description — the waste transfer note. Registration as a waste carrier is with the Environment Agency and is free to check.

This matters to you rather than being somebody else's paperwork, and that is the point worth making plainly. Fly-tipped spoil is routinely traced back to the property it came from, and the householder who paid cash to a man with a tipper and no registration can find themselves on the receiving end of the enforcement after the contractor has disappeared. Asking for the number costs a moment and shifts that risk.

It is also a very good general test of a firm. A registered contractor produces the carrier registration number without hesitation, because they have it and use it every week. Anyone who bristles at the question, changes the subject or explains why it is not necessary has told you something useful about how the rest of the job will be run.

Not all of it necessarily leaves. Where excavated material is clean and suitable it can sometimes be reused on site — to build up a border, level a garden, or as fill behind a retaining structure — which saves both disposal cost and lorry movements. That is worth asking about, though it has to be genuinely suitable material rather than a way of avoiding a skip.

Two practical points for the week of the work. A grab lorry needs room and a clear approach, so where access is tight the alternative is skips and a lot more handling, which costs more. And where the drive is being taken up in a shared entry or a narrow street, agreeing in advance where vehicles will stand saves a fair amount of friction with neighbours.