Disposal Options

There are many Disposal Options available. Not everything needs to go in a skip.

There are also ways to reuse many scrap materials.

Disposal methods

Skip

• Convenient
• Quite expensive (£160 for a 6 yard skip being common, although a discount may be available if you are only loading clean hardcore and top/sub soil)
• Skips on roads often require a local authority permit (although now uncommon, some local authorities may also insist on night lighting for them)
• Skips on private land are sometimes collected only after long delays, they use you as the storage depot
• Non-level loads may be surcharged
• Other people will fill your skip in many neighbourhoods

Prepaid Collectable Bag

• Folded flat bags available from shops. Phone a number to have them collect when full.
• Handy for small quantities, but too expensive for large loads
• Binbags generally much a cheaper option.

Binbags

• Some garbage will fit binbags, and this is often the cheapest option for small jobs.
• Some large items (eg sofas) can be broken down for fun, just hand out assorted lethal weapons to the youngsters and bag up the remains the next day.
• Use rubble bags for heavier items
• Some LAs will have a limit on how many they will collect per property

Wheelie bin

• Imagination and a power saw can make a surprising number of things fit

Local Tip

• Sometimes using or hiring a car or van to take materials to the tip is a good option.
• Many tips will exclude anything they think is a commercial vehicle.
• May charge for users who do not have a residents permit
• Household rubbish is sometimes rejected on the grounds it could possibly be from a business activity

Scrap Merchant

• Metals
• Make the best of copper scrap

Freecycle, Craigslist etc

• Its sometimes surprising what people want and will collect.
• More effective in town than country.

Charity

• Local charities
• charities exporting old tools to the 3rd world, eg Tools for Self Reliance

Fire

• Wood
• paper
• Not plastic

Burial

• A no-cost way to fill holes with non-toxic waste

Hardcore

• Hard building materials can be used as hardcore.

Concrete aggregate

• Several types of garbage can be used as concrete aggregate. Examples include bricks, blocks, tiles, ash, stone, sand, glass.
• Bulky items like bricks best broken up first.

Papercrete

• Paper, cement, sand, lime, fibres, brick pieces, clay, plaster, plasterboard, expanded polystyrene, straw, and water based paints can all be included in papercrete, which makes building blocks, mortar and insulation.
• Making papercrete requires labour & equipment though.

Asbestos Removal Contractor

• Possibly the most expensive method of disposing of asbestos yet devised. Some tips take asbestos, double bag it first.
• Some skip hire firms will provide shrouded skips for low risk asbestos (e.g. asbestos cement) type products.

Blocks

• Almost any non-expanding material can be put into the middle of concrete blocks to reduce cement use and dispose of it free.
• Beware of differential thermal coefficients.

Composting

Gypsum, plasterboard, plaster, paper, cardboard & lime can be included in composting.

• Bulky items need to be broken up first.

Shredding

Plant waste, wood without nails, plasterboard, cardboard & paper without colour printing can be shredded and disposed of in the garden.

Oil Tanks

• Discussion of options

Hot water cylinder

• Copper is worth a good bit as scrap
• Occasionally cylinders are reused as preheat tanks

See Also

• Re-use & Recycle
• Metal disposal
• Wiki Contents
• Wiki Subject Categories