Reduce your bulky rubbish removal costs

Posted on July 23, 2020 in Waste Solutions

Getting rid of bulky rubbish can be expensive! Below are our top tips on how to save some money when you next need to get rid of some bulky waste.

Can it be reused?

Why not donate it to one of a number of charities that will send a van to your home to collect. Try Furniture Donation Network or Reuse Network to find a charity in your area – but do bear in mind they are not a free rubbish removal service and do actually want quality items they can sell!

Another option, if you’d rather earn a bit of money, is to use a website like eBay or Gumtree. Drawbacks are the time and effort it takes to do this, and also the slightly scary issue of random buyers coming to your home to collect. But if you’re feeling trusting, have the time and like taking photos – go for it!

You may even want to consider upcycling your item – sometimes, all a piece of furniture needs is a lick of paint. There’s plenty of upcycling inspiration on the internet – check out this upcycling for beginners article.

Take it to your nearest civic amenity site

Assuming you have access to a vehicle, then loading up your stuff and driving it to your local tip is definitely the cheapest way to dispose of bulky waste. The vast majority of tips don’t charge anything to take your waste provided you can prove you are a local resident and don’t deliver it in a commercial vehicle.

Don’t forget that last point by the way. Most council tips either prohibit entirely or charge to receive commercial or trade waste – so think twice before hiring a van to deliver your old kitchen to the tip.

Use your council’s bulky household waste collection service

Every council is legally obliged to provide residents (not businesses) with a subsidised home collection service for bulky household items you cannot put in your bin. The service tends to be restricted to household items like furniture, mattresses, carpet, appliances (like fridges) and bric-a-brac and excludes builders waste and DIY waste. It’s rarely free, but it is subsidised – so will typically be cheaper than using a private rubbish removal solution.

The downside of a council collection are that the limitations placed on what can and cannot be taken and also service levels aren’t super slick. For example, you may have to wait a week or so to arrange a collection and many councils only collect from outside the property or charge a substantial premium to collect from inside. But you pays your money and takes your choice as they say!

Break down the waste before it’s collected

Unless the junk is extremely heavy, rubbish clearance and skip hire companies charge by the volume of waste collected. So if you’ve got the energy and time, it’s always worth dismantling items, particularly light furniture, to reduce its bulk so it takes up less space in the van or skips. On a side note, don’t expect rubbish clearance companies to do lots of breaking down for you.

So if you think something can be reduced in size, we recommend dismantling yourself before the rubbish clearance crew arrives.

Get your kitchen fitter to remove the waste for free

Waste removal is often overlooked at the time of arranging you’re new kitchen installation or other home improvement or repairs work. Contractors regularly leave their customer to organise and pay for the waste or, if asked, add on the cost to the bill. We recommend raising waste disposal just before you sign the line with your kitchen company to go ahead with the works.

Ask them to include the cost of waste disposal and you’ll sign today. You’ll be amazed at how many will say yes.

Use skips for the heavy stuff and use man & van rubbish clearance for bulkier lighter waste

Without getting into the technical’s of why, if you have a lot of heavy, mucky waste like soil and rubble, it normally works out more cost effective using a skip to get rid of it. Skips are also useful for containing that type of waste as you generate it.

On the other hand, man & van rubbish clearance is normally 10%-30% cheaper than skips (even before you add on extras like skip permits and parking suspensions – which is required for skips when placing on a public highway) for the general bulky waste.

So if circumstances suit, it’s worth considering splitting your waste between these two solutions.

For information on our junk removal services please visit Protech Waste Solutions or call one of our friendly team on 0845 604 1288 to arrange a quotation.