Conditions of Service

We are Star Refuse Collection Services Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 13998630) whose registered office is Unit 4b-4c, Penbeagle Industrial Estate, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 2JH. Our VAT registration number is 407 2623 19. In these Conditions we are called “we”, “us” or “Star Refuse”, and you are called “you” or the “Customer”.

We are registered with the Environment Agency as an upper tier waste carrier, broker and dealer under registration number CBDU449152. You can verify this at any time on the Environment Agency's public register. We will provide evidence of our registration, and of our insurance, on request.

Before anyone takes your business waste away, you are legally expected to check they are registered to carry it. Please do check ours. It takes a minute, and it is the single best protection against your waste being fly-tipped in your name.

These Conditions apply to all services we supply and replace any earlier version. Words with a capital letter have the meaning given in the Definitions at the end of this document.

Schedule 3 gives extra protection to individual customers. It applies to you if you are an individual and either (a) you are buying our services wholly or mainly for purposes outside a business, or (b) you own a let property but have not confirmed to us that it is assessed for business rates, is VAT registered, or is let commercially on a scale that makes you a business. Where Schedule 3 conflicts with anything else in these Conditions, Schedule 3 wins. Nothing in these Conditions affects your legal rights as a consumer. Schedule 3 does not apply to a company, LLP or partnership.

Whether a private individual letting one cottage counts as a "business" in consumer-law terms is genuinely unsettled, and the law puts the burden of proving it on us, not you. Rather than argue about it, we simply give every individual customer the benefit of the doubt.

Waste produced by a property let as self-catering or holiday accommodation is commercial waste in law, under Schedule 1 to the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012. This is so whether or not the property pays Council Tax, however few days a year it is let, and whether or not you also live there yourself. It cannot lawfully be put out for the Council's household collection, taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre as household waste, or placed in public litter bins. You acknowledge this, and that you must therefore use a registered carrier such as us.

“But I pay Council Tax.” We hear this a lot, and it is a fair question. Council Tax pays for the collection of household waste from a home. The moment a property is let to paying guests it is a business, and its waste is business waste, which the law says a business must arrange and pay to have collected. This is not our rule; it is set by regulations and applies to every holiday let in the country.

A contract between us comes into existence on the earliest of: (a) our written acceptance of your application or our quotation being accepted by you; (b) your signature (including electronically) of a Collection Agreement or Transfer Note; or (c) our first collection of Waste from the Site.

These Conditions are the only terms on which we deal. Any terms you put forward, including anything printed on a purchase order, booking form, managing-agent agreement or email footer, do not apply, even if we do not object to them.

Quotations are valid for 30 days and are given on the basis of the information you provide about the Waste, the Site and the expected volume. If any of that information turns out to be materially different, we may adjust the price under clause 7.11.

Where a letting agency, managing agent, housekeeper or other person books or arranges services on your behalf, they do so as your agent. You are responsible for the Charges. If an agent books in its own name without telling us it is acting for someone else, that agent and the property owner are jointly and severally liable for the Charges.

In plain terms: if your agency books us and nobody pays, we can ask either you or the agency for the money. We would always rather just be told at the outset who is paying.

You must tell us in writing, as soon as you can, if the property is sold, if you change letting agency, or if your billing address, email address or telephone number changes. You remain liable for the Charges for all collections made at the Site until we have accepted a new customer for that Site in writing.

We will collect, transport and arrange the lawful treatment or disposal of the Waste described in your Collection Agreement and Transfer Note, from the Site, with reasonable care and skill and in accordance with our environmental permissions and applicable law.

Our operational area is St Ives, Carbis Bay, Lelant, Halsetown, Nancledra, Zennor, Cripplesease and Ludgvan. We may agree to serve addresses outside that area, and may decline to do so or withdraw from an outlying address on 30 days' notice.

Collection days and time windows are indicative. We will use reasonable endeavours to keep to them, but times and dates may change for operational reasons, and time is not of the essence in relation to our collections. We will tell you about planned changes where we reasonably can, including arrangements over bank holidays and the Christmas and New Year period.

If we miss a scheduled collection through our own fault and you tell us within 24 hours, we will return and collect within two Working Days. That, or at our option a credit for that collection, is your only remedy for a missed collection. This does not limit our liability under clause 12.1.

We are a small local team and we do miss things occasionally. Tell us and we will come back, usually the same day. What we cannot do is accept liability for the knock-on costs of a missed bin, such as a guest complaint or a bad review.

We may use subcontractors or another operator's vehicle to perform the Services, for example during a breakdown, staff absence or peak demand, or where specialist treatment is required. We remain responsible to you for the Services.

Wait & load. Where we provide a wait-and-load tipper service, the vehicle remains attended on the highway and is driven away at the end of the visit. Because nothing is deposited on the highway, no skip permit is required under section 139 of the Highways Act 1980. We do not, however, warrant that parking, waiting or loading restrictions will permit a vehicle to stop at a particular place at a particular time, and we may have to reschedule where they do not. If you ask us to place any container on a public highway, you must obtain any necessary permit and you indemnify us in respect of doing so.

Clearances. For a site, house, garage or garden clearance you warrant that you own the items to be removed or are authorised to dispose of them. We are not liable for the loss of any item of value included in a clearance, and you should remove anything of personal, financial or sentimental value before we attend. If we find anything that appears to be of significant value, a legal document, or identity or financial paperwork, we will set it aside and contact you.

You must make the Waste available at the agreed Collection Point by the agreed time on the collection day. Where no time is agreed, that time is 8.00am.

You must give us safe, clear and lawful access to the Collection Point, including: a route free of obstruction and trip hazards; adequate lighting in the hours of darkness; a safe standing and turning area for our vehicle; and any gate, door, bin store or key-safe code we need. If a code, key or lock changes, you must tell us before the next collection.

Our driver may decline, in their absolute discretion, to bring a vehicle onto or along any ground they consider unsafe, unsuitable or likely to damage the vehicle or the surface. If you ask us to bring a vehicle off the public highway, you indemnify us against any resulting loss, cost or claim, including damage to driveways, verges, gates, surfaces, drains and services.

This is not us being difficult. St Ives lanes are narrow, steep and often soft at the edges, and a loaded refuse vehicle is very heavy. If our driver says a driveway will not take the weight, please take that as a favour rather than a refusal.

You are responsible for the safety of our staff while they are at the Site. You must tell us in advance of any hazard, including unrestrained dogs, unsafe steps or surfaces, low beams, asbestos-containing materials, and any building work in progress. Where the Site is a construction site, you must provide any site induction, and tell us of any site rules and personal protective equipment requirements, before we attend.

Bin Bags must be tied and must be capable of being lifted safely by one person. Our maximum bin bag weight is 15kg. We may still collect a heavier bin bag at our discretion and charge the Excess Weight Charge; but we will not collect any bin bag or container that cannot be handled safely, and we owe our crews a legal duty not to. Please do not fill bin bags with rubble, tiles, soil or plaster. Ask us about the tipper service instead.

You remain responsible for what is placed in your bins and bin bags, including by your guests, tenants, cleaners, contractors and members of the public. We understand you cannot supervise every guest, and clause 5.7 explains how we deal with that in practice, but the legal responsibility for the Waste is yours, and it cannot be transferred to us by contract.

We count and charge for everything presented at the Collection Point. If other people are adding their waste to your bin or your pile of bin bags, that waste will be counted as yours. Where this is a recurring problem we can supply a lockable bin: see clause 11.5.

This is one of the most common surprises on a St Ives invoice. When visitors find their own bin full, they look for one with space. If your bags are out on the pavement, they can become everyone's bags. A lock genuinely solves it.

You warrant that all Waste presented for collection: (a) matches the description and List of Waste codes recorded in the Transfer Note, and that the description is true, complete and accurate, including as to weight and compactability; (b) contains no Excluded Waste; (c) contains no Restricted Waste that you have not declared to us in advance; (d) is owned by you or is waste you are authorised to dispose of; and (e) has been dealt with by you in accordance with the waste hierarchy under regulation 12 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.

You must notify us immediately in writing if the nature, composition or quantity of the Waste changes, or if you discover that a description you have given is or has become inaccurate.

Excluded Waste is listed in Part A of Schedule 1. We will not collect it under any service, and you must never present it. We are not permitted to carry it and, in most cases, it is a criminal offence for either of us to move it without the correct documentation and facilities.

Restricted Waste is listed in Part B of Schedule 1. We can collect it, but only where you have declared it to us in advance so that we can document, carry and dispose of it correctly, and it is charged separately. If Restricted Waste is presented without prior declaration we may apply the relevant charge retrospectively, and any charge for a load spoiled or reclassified as a result.

We may inspect, open, photograph or sample any Waste to satisfy ourselves that it matches its description. Doing so, or failing to do so, does not relieve you of your obligation to describe the Waste accurately, and we are not treated as having accepted Waste merely because our crew has handled or lifted it.

Where Waste does not match its description, or contains Excluded or undeclared Restricted Waste, we may do any one or more of the following: (a) refuse to collect it, or leave it at the Site; (b) suspend the Services; (c) charge a Non-Conformance Charge; (d) adjust the Charges, temporarily or permanently; (e) arrange lawful disposal at an alternative facility at your cost; (f) return the Waste to you, and you must accept its return; and (g) recover from you all resulting costs, including gate-fee surcharges, load rejection charges, decontamination, vehicle downtime, fines and legal costs.

If Excluded Waste is discovered after loading, title in it never passes to us. We will deal with it lawfully, and you will reimburse us the full cost of doing so, together with our reasonable administration costs.

You indemnify us against all fines, penalties, clean-up and disposal costs, facility surcharges, third-party claims, regulatory costs and reasonable legal costs which we incur as a result of any breach of this clause 5, of any inaccurate description of Waste, or of the presentation of Excluded or undeclared Restricted Waste. This clause 5.9 does not apply to a Household Customer.

Under sections 45AZB and 45AZD of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“Simpler Recycling”), businesses in England must present dry recyclable materials (glass, metal, plastic, and paper and card) separately from residual waste, and must present food waste separately from everything else. That duty falls on you as the producer, and a parallel duty falls on us as the collector.

Food waste must never be placed in a receptacle containing glass, metal, plastic, or paper and card, and those materials must never be placed in a food waste receptacle. This is an absolute statutory prohibition and there is no exemption from it.

Where we co-collect two or more dry recyclable streams together, we do so in reliance on the Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2025 and, where required, a written co-collection assessment under section 45AZD. We hold a current assessment for the round serving your Site and will produce it on request.

Micro-firm declaration. The Simpler Recycling duties do not apply to collections from a business which was a micro-firm (fewer than ten full-time-equivalent employees across the whole business) until 31 March 2027. You must tell us on application whether you are a micro-firm, you warrant that the statement is accurate, and you must tell us in writing within 14 days if that ceases to be the case.

Most of our customers (individual holiday-let owners, small cafés, shops and guest houses) are micro-firms, which is why a single mixed bin bag has been acceptable up to now. That national exemption ends on 31 March 2027 and it applies to everyone after that.

With effect from 1 April 2027, or from the earlier date on which you cease to be a micro-firm, the separation obligations in clauses 6.1 and 6.2 apply to you automatically without further notice, and we may vary the Services and the Charges to reflect the additional collections and containers required. If you do not wish to accept that variation you may end this agreement under clause 13.1 without charge.

Contamination. Where material presented for recycling is, in our reasonable opinion, contaminated, we will still collect it in accordance with clause 5.7, but we will reclassify and charge it as residual waste at the residual rate and may apply a Contamination Charge covering the additional handling and disposal cost. Where contamination recurs we may re-price your recycling service, temporarily or permanently, or withdraw it on notice. We will record the reclassification on the Transfer Note.

If the Environment Agency serves a compliance notice on us, or takes any other enforcement step against us, because of your failure to separate waste as required by this clause 6, you will indemnify us for the cost of compliance and any penalty. This clause 6.7 does not apply to a Household Customer.

Food waste from a commercial kitchen, café, restaurant, takeaway or guest house which contains or has touched meat, fish or dairy is a Category 3 animal by-product and must be collected under a separate arrangement with its own documentation. It must not be presented in general residual bin bags. Please speak to us before presenting any such waste.

Unless your Collection Agreement says otherwise, we charge per Bin Bag collected at the rate set out in your Collection Agreement or our published price list.

A Bin Bag means any household bin bag, bin liner or equivalent bag of up to 40 litres presented for collection, that being the size of a standard household kitchen bin. A Bin Bag is charged as one Bin Bag whether or not it is full. We charge by the number of Bin Bags presented and removed, not by weight and not by the size of your bin. A bag larger than 40 litres is charged as the number of 40-litre Bin Bags its capacity equates to, rounded up.

This is the single thing customers query most, so it is worth being blunt about it. A half-filled bag still takes a crew member's hands, a slot on the vehicle and a share of the tip fee, so it costs us the same as a full one. Forty litres is the standard household kitchen bin, so a 240-litre wheelie bin holds roughly six bin bags and a 140-litre bin roughly four to five. A "small bin" does not automatically mean a small invoice, particularly in changeover weeks when guests generate far more waste than residents do.

Loose waste, and waste presented in anything other than a Bin Bag, is charged on the basis of the number of Bin Bags it fills or would reasonably have filled.

Our crews record the number of Bin Bags collected at each Collection Point. Our collection records are evidence of the quantity collected and we will rely on them, but they are not the last word. If you query a count we will look at the record with you, send you free of charge any photograph we hold of that Collection Point on that date, and correct the invoice if the record does not support the charge. Nothing in this clause prevents you from producing your own evidence or from taking a dispute to court.

We deliberately have not written "our decision is final". It would not be fair, and against a household customer it would not be enforceable either.

You must raise any query about a quantity collected within 7 days of the collection date, and any other invoice query within 14 days of the invoice date. You must pay the undisputed part of any invoice by the due date regardless.

Please do query things. We would much rather sort it out than have you quietly resent the bill. The reason for the short window is simply that after a week the evidence is gone: the crew has done another 300 collections and the load has been tipped.

The following additional charges apply, at the rates published in Schedule 2: the Wasted Journey Charge, the Overfill Charge, the Excess Weight Charge, the Contamination Charge, the Non-Conformance Charge, the Waiting Time Charge, the Duty of Care administration charge, and charges for Restricted Waste, replacement bins and replacement keys.

A Wasted Journey occurs where we attend the Site but cannot complete the collection because of your breach of these Conditions or for any reason beyond our reasonable control: for example the Waste was not presented, access was blocked by a parked vehicle, a gate or bin store was locked, a key-safe code had changed, or a lockable bin was locked and no key was available. We will not treat it as a Wasted Journey, and will not charge, where the failure was our own fault, including vehicle breakdown or staff shortage.

Wait & load. The price includes up to 60 minutes on site. Additional time is charged as Waiting Time in 30-minute units. If the material presented exceeds the vehicle's capacity or its permitted axle weights, we will take what we lawfully can and quote separately for the remainder.

All Charges are exclusive of VAT, which we will add at the applicable rate. If the VAT rate changes, the new rate applies to supplies made on or after the date of the change.

Annual price review. We may increase our Charges once in any 12-month period by giving you 30 days' written notice.

Cost pass-through. In addition, we may vary the Charges at any time, on such notice as is reasonably practicable, to reflect any increase in our costs arising from: gate fees or disposal, treatment or recovery charges at any facility we use; Landfill Tax or any tax on incineration or energy recovery; Extended Producer Responsibility fees; fuel duty or fuel prices; National Insurance or the National Living Wage; the introduction of or any change to statutory waste tracking, registration, permitting or reporting requirements, including the Digital Waste Tracking Service, and any associated fees; or any other change in law or regulatory requirement affecting the collection, transport, treatment or disposal of waste.

If you do not accept an increase under clause 7.10 or 7.11 you may end this agreement at any time before it takes effect, at no cost, by telling us in writing. That is your remedy, and we think it is a fair one. You are never locked in to a price you have not agreed.

Changes to your requirements. If your requirements change materially (for example the property's occupancy, the volume presented, or the type of waste) we will agree a revised Charge and issue a replacement Transfer Note. Where a Charge is based on an assumed number of Bin Bags or an assumed weight, we may revise that assumption, and the Charge proportionately, if we reasonably believe the actual average differs.

Annual Plan. If you choose our optional prepaid Annual Plan, you pay twelve months' collections in advance at a discounted rate. The discount is given in exchange for payment in advance and for us reserving round capacity for the year, and the prepayment is non-refundable if you cancel during the year. We will remind you at least 30 days before the Plan ends, and it will not renew automatically unless you have asked us to set up a Direct Debit. Clause 7.14 is subject to Schedule 3 for Household Customers.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, our invoices are payable in full within 14 days of the date of the invoice, in cleared funds, without any deduction, set-off or counterclaim. Time of payment is of the essence.

We invoice electronically, and you consent to receiving invoices, Transfer Notes and notices by email. We may charge a reasonable administration fee for issuing paper invoices, and for payment by any method other than Direct Debit.

Where you are not a Household Customer, this is a commercial contract for the purposes of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. We expressly reserve our rights under that Act, including to statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, the fixed sum compensation of £40, £70 or £100 per overdue invoice according to its size, and our reasonable costs of recovering the debt.

We would much rather never use this. If an invoice is going to be late, a phone call to 01736 796345 is always better than silence. We can almost always come to an arrangement.

If any undisputed sum is overdue, we may (without ending the agreement) suspend all or part of the Services on 7 days' written notice until the arrears are paid, and may recover any bins we have supplied. Waste which accumulates at the Site during a suspension remains your responsibility, and suspension does not reduce or refund any prepaid Annual Plan.

Where we have reasonable grounds to doubt that sums due will be paid, we may require payment in advance, a deposit, or a Direct Debit mandate before starting or continuing the Services.

Where you and any associated company or person also hold an account with us or with Star Linen Hire & Laundry Services Ltd, we may set off any sum you owe under this agreement against any sum owed to you under that account, and vice versa. This clause 8.6 does not apply to a Household Customer.

Both of us are separately and independently subject to the duty of care in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Nothing in this agreement transfers, reduces or discharges your own statutory duty, and we do not accept your statutory duty on your behalf.

A signed written description of the Waste, called a Transfer Note, is required by law on every transfer. For regular scheduled collections we will issue an annual “season ticket” Transfer Note covering all transfers of the described Waste from the Site for up to 12 months, supported by our records of each individual collection. One-off collections, clearances and bulky items are documented individually.

You appoint us as your agent to check, complete, amend, update, renew and sign Transfer Notes on your behalf. This is so that we can keep your paperwork lawful without having to chase a signature from an absent owner before every collection. You may withdraw this authority in writing at any time.

Transfer Notes may be issued, signed and stored electronically. A tick-box, typed name or signature captured on a handheld device is a valid electronic signature. Where a cleaner, housekeeper or managing agent signs on your behalf, you warrant that they have authority to do so.

You must keep your copy of each Transfer Note for at least two years and produce it to the Environment Agency or Cornwall Council on demand. We will keep ours for at least three years. We will provide copies of Transfer Notes relating to your Site free of charge once a year; a reasonable administration charge applies to additional or historic requests.

Digital waste tracking. The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 require waste movements to be recorded in the Environment Agency's Digital Waste Tracking Service. That duty applies to receiving sites from 1 October 2026 and to carriers such as us from 1 October 2027; existing Transfer Note requirements continue to apply in the meantime. You will promptly provide any information we reasonably require to record movements of your Waste, and you consent to that information being submitted to the Service.

A valid, signed and current Transfer Note is a condition of our providing the Services. We may suspend collections if one is not in place, because without it we cannot lawfully carry your Waste.

Title to and risk in the Waste passes to us when it is physically loaded onto our vehicle, and not before. Waste standing in a bin at your Site remains yours.

Title does not pass in any Excluded Waste, which remains your property and your responsibility at all times, whether or not we have physically removed it.

The transfer of title does not relieve you of any liability or duty you have in relation to the Waste, including under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Any value in material we recover from the Waste, including recyclate, belongs to us, and is reflected in the Charges.

We will deliver all Waste we collect to a facility authorised to receive it, and will take reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that each facility operates in accordance with its permit. We are not liable for the acts or omissions of any third-party facility.

Landfill. Residual household-type refuse we collect in bin bags and wheelie bins is taken for sorting and then for recycling or energy recovery, and is not sent to landfill. We cannot give that assurance for construction, demolition and inert waste such as rubble, soil, hardcore, ceramics and plasterboard, some of which is recovered and some of which is landfilled according to its nature and the facilities available.

We would rather be accurate than impressive. Cornwall no longer has an operating landfill for household-type waste, which is why the first sentence is true. Building rubble is a different story and we are not going to claim otherwise.

Bins and other equipment we supply on hire remain our property. You hold them as bailee only, with no lien over them. They must be kept at the Site, used only by you, and returned to us on termination. We may enter the Site on reasonable notice to inspect, maintain, replace or recover them.

You must not sell, charge, sub-let, part with possession of, move to another address, deface, re-brand or advertise on any bin we supply, or remove any mark showing that it is ours. Where we sell you a bin, title passes only when we have been paid in full.

A bin is deemed delivered in good condition unless you tell us otherwise in writing within three Working Days. From delivery, risk passes to you, and you must make good any loss, theft, fire or damage (fair wear and tear excepted), including the full replacement cost, at the rates in Schedule 2. This does not apply where the loss or damage was caused by us. Please tell us immediately if a bin is stolen.

We fit a fresh high-gauge liner on every scheduled collection as part of the service.

Lockable bins and replacement keys are available; charges are in Schedule 2. If a lockable bin is presented locked and we have no key, that is a Wasted Journey under clause 7.7. Please keep a key accessible to whoever puts the bin out.

Bins must not be placed on a public highway without any necessary permission, and you are responsible for obtaining it.

Nothing in these Conditions limits or excludes our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; any breach of the terms as to title and quiet possession implied by sections 2 and 7 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982; anything which cannot lawfully be limited or excluded under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 where you are a Household Customer; or anything else which cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Subject to clause 12.1, we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, business, contracts, anticipated savings, goodwill or reputation, or for any cancelled or refunded booking, guest complaint, compensation paid to a guest, adverse review, or loss of rental income, however caused.

Subject to clause 12.1, our total liability for all claims arising in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of £1,000 and 125% of the Charges you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose.

We are not liable for damage caused by taking a vehicle onto ground at your direction under clause 4.3, or for damage to any surface, gate, verge, drain or service where access was unsuitable.

Any claim for damage to property at the Site must be notified to us in writing within 7 days of the collection concerned, so that we can investigate while the evidence is fresh.

We maintain public liability, employer's liability and goods-in-transit insurance. We will provide evidence of cover on request.

If any part of this clause 12 is held to be invalid, it is treated as deleted and the remaining provisions continue to apply. This clause 12 survives termination.

Either of us may end this agreement at any time by giving 30 days' written notice to the other. There is no minimum term and no early termination charge.

We may end this agreement immediately on written notice if you: (a) fail to pay any undisputed sum within 14 days of a written reminder; (b) commit a material breach which is not remedied within 14 days of notice; (c) present Excluded Waste, or repeatedly present undeclared Restricted Waste; (d) fail to provide safe access, or fail to sign a Transfer Note; or (e) subject our staff to abuse, threats or discriminatory behaviour.

We may also decline to accept a new customer, or decline to quote for any particular service or Site, at our discretion.

If you become unable to pay your debts, enter or propose any insolvency procedure, or cease to trade, we may require payment in advance for continued Services and may suspend the Services until it is received.

On termination: all Charges accrued become payable immediately; we will recover our bins, and may charge for collecting them; any prepaid Annual Plan is non-refundable in accordance with clause 7.14; and any rights or liabilities already accrued are unaffected.

Events outside our control. We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by anything beyond our reasonable control, including: severe weather, flood, snow, ice or storm; road closure, traffic congestion or the seasonal closure of streets; vehicle breakdown; inability to obtain staff, drivers or fuel; industrial action; epidemic or pandemic; fire; and the closure of, or refusal of a load by, any transfer station, treatment facility or disposal site we use. If such an event continues for more than 30 days, either of us may end this agreement on written notice.

Data protection. We each act as an independent controller of the personal data we hold in connection with this agreement, and will comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We use your details to provide and administer the Services, to meet our legal duty-of-care and waste-tracking obligations, and to collect payment. Our privacy notice is on our website.

Changes to these Conditions. We may amend these Conditions where necessary to comply with a change in law, or in the requirements of the Environment Agency, Cornwall Council or any facility we use, and will tell you as soon as practicable. Any other change requires your agreement. If you do not accept a change you may end this agreement under clause 13.1 without charge.

Transfer. You may not transfer this agreement without our written consent. We may subcontract our obligations, and may transfer our rights, including on a sale of our business.

Notices. Notices must be in writing and sent by email to info@starrefuse.co.uk, or by post to Unit 4b-4c, Penbeagle Industrial Estate, St Ives TR26 2JH; or, to you, to the last email or postal address you gave us. A notice is treated as received on the next Working Day.

Complaints. Please tell us: info@starrefuse.co.uk or 01736 796345. We will acknowledge within two Working Days and aim to resolve within ten. If we cannot agree, we will both consider mediation before either of us starts court proceedings.

Entire agreement; third parties; waiver; severance. This agreement, your Collection Agreement and the Transfer Note are the whole agreement between us. A person who is not a party has no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. A delay in enforcing a term is not a waiver of it. If any term is held invalid, the rest continue in force.

Governing law. This agreement and any dispute arising out of it are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

The following charges apply in addition to the collection Charges. Current rates are published on our website and may be varied under clauses 7.10 and 7.11. All figures are exclusive of VAT.

This Schedule applies to every individual customer within clause 1.4, including one-off SOS collections, residential collections, bulky item removals, house and garage clearances, and individual owners of a single let property who have not told us that the property is business-rated, VAT registered or let at commercial scale.

This Schedule does not change how your waste is classified. Waste from a let property is commercial waste under clause 1.5 whoever produces it, and must be collected by a registered carrier. Those are two different questions: what the waste is, and what protection you get as a customer. You can be a consumer buying a commercial waste service, and many of our customers are.

Nothing in these Conditions affects your statutory rights, including your right under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to services carried out with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time, and for a reasonable price where none was agreed.

Your right to cancel. Where you book at a distance or away from our premises, you may cancel within 14 days of us confirming your booking, without giving a reason, by telling us at info@starrefuse.co.uk or 01736 796345.

Same-day and urgent work. If you want us to start within the 14-day cancellation period, which is usually the whole point of an SOS collection, you must ask us expressly to do so, and we will confirm that request in writing. You keep your right to cancel, but if you cancel after we have started you must pay a fair amount for what we have already done, and once the job is finished you can no longer cancel it.

The following clauses do not apply to you: clause 5.9 and clause 6.7 (indemnities), clause 8.1 so far as it excludes set-off, clause 8.3 (commercial late payment interest), and clause 8.6 (group set-off). Clause 4.3 applies to you only where the loss was caused by your own negligence or breach of these Conditions.

The limit in clause 12.3 does not restrict our liability to you for loss or damage to your property which is a foreseeable result of our failing to use reasonable care and skill.

We will not increase a price we have quoted you for a one-off job. For an ongoing service, we will give you 30 days' written notice of any increase, and you may cancel free of charge at any time before it takes effect. Clause 7.11 does not allow us to increase a price you have already paid.

If you prepay for an Annual Plan and cancel part way through, we will refund what you have paid less the value of the collections already made and less the discount you received for paying in advance. The words “non-refundable” in clause 7.14 do not apply to you.

Interest on late payment is charged at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate, from the due date until payment.

Your own duty of care. Under section 34(2A) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 you must take reasonable steps to make sure your household waste is only given to someone authorised to take it. If waste traced back to you is fly-tipped and you cannot show you checked, you can be given a fixed penalty of up to £600, or prosecuted. Our registration number is CBDU449152. Please check it on the Environment Agency's public register, and please keep the receipt or Transfer Note we give you.

This is the reason to be wary of a cheap cash-in-hand van. If your waste ends up dumped in a lane above Zennor, it is you the council will come to, and "someone took it away for £40" is not a defence.

Complaints. Please contact us at info@starrefuse.co.uk, on 01736 796345, or by post to Unit 4b-4c, Penbeagle Industrial Estate, St Ives TR26 2JH. We will acknowledge within five Working Days and give you a substantive reply within twenty. We are not currently a member of an alternative dispute resolution scheme. If we cannot resolve your complaint we will tell you so in writing, and you are free to take the matter to court.