All local councils offer a bulk waste collection for household recyclable items. Plastic and cardboard, garden waste, cans - your council can collect it all. Most councils also offer additional bulk waste services that you can pay for to have larger items like sofas collected as well. But is it actually worth it or would you be better off hiring a specialised waste removal service to take away for home, garden or commercial waste instead?

In this guide we look at the issues around council bulk waste collections.

Paying for your council bulky waste collection.

The amount you’ll pay for your council collection usually depends on the number and type of items you want to be collected. Prices also vary greatly depending where in the country you live. Not surprisingly, prices in London are far more expensive than the rest of the UK, with costs exceeding £100 for many collections.

Are there any restrictions on what your council will collect?

While councils claim to offer comprehensive bulk waste collections, most place strict restrictions on the types of items they’ll actually collect. Fridges and freezers (because they have to be disposed of in a specific way) are often not collected by councils so you’ll need a separate removal service for those. Other bulky items may also need to be broken down into smaller loads before councils will collect them too. Before hiring a council bulk collection, make sure you check the website for any specific restrictions you may face.

How convenient are the collections?

While you may be able to have some of your bulky items collected by your council, you need to consider the logistics of the collections and how convenient they actually are.

For example, if you decide to have your waste collected by the council, you’ll have to take your rubbish to the kerb on the day it’s due to be collected as council collectors won’t take your items directly from your home, garden or office. If you live in a block of flats, this could involve you carrying bulky items down to the communal bin area before they’ll be collected. When you’re paying for a service, do you really want to do some of the removal work yourself?

councils can’t guarantee you any time slots for your collection so you could end up with bulky rubbish placed outside for long periods of the day before it’s taken away.

What happens if you want more or less taken away on the day?

One of the big downsides with council bulky waste collections is they’re not flexible once you’ve made your booking. If you find other waste you want to be collected once you’ve already booked your collection, the council won’t take it and you’ll have to book a separate collection - which could mean waiting for another week at least. Similarly, if you actually have less waste than you originally booked, you won’t be able to claim any refund.

Book a more convenient waste removal in London with LITTA.

Rather than rely on an expensive, inconvenient council bulky waste collection, a better option could be to book a dedicated waste removal company in London. One like LITTA.

Our rubbish removal is cost effective compared to council bulky waste collections so you’ll be able to remove more of your waste for a better price. We’re also more convenient and are able to collect your unwanted items directly from your home, garden or commercial space - you’ll never have to do any of our work for us.

And with real-time tracking available on all of our collection vans, you can monitor the progress of your waste collection in London right to your door so you won’t have to wait around all day. with a 93% recycling rate, we guarantee that we won’t send your rubbish to landfill unnecessarily. Want to know more about our

Get in touch.