SMALL business chiefs have slammed the Government for not giving firms enough information about crucial new waste disposal regulations coming into force this week.

Under the Landfill Directive, two new rules now apply to non-hazardous waste - liquid wastes will be banned from landfill and waste must be treated before it can be landfilled.

Firms flouting the rules face penalties.

The Environment Agency has posted information on its website. But the Federation of Small Businesses claims there was not enough publicity to alert the nation’s 4.5 million small businesses - around 50,000 in Kent and Medway alone - to the changes.

The FSB accused the Government of a "dereliction in duty" by bringing in the new rules without a sustained publicity campaign.

John Holbrow, FSB Environment chairman, said: "The Environment Agency must do more to let small businesses know what their obligations are. Putting information on a website is simply not enough. There must be widespread publicity otherwise small businesses could be punished for breaking laws they knew nothing about."

Roger House, chairman of the 7,000-member Kent FSB, said there should a period of sustained advertising because small firms were busy running their businesses and did not have time to spend time looking at Government websites.