Many household items are banned from being put in skips, for obvious reasons, and some are also forbidden by law. So, to avoid a wasted journey and a phone call on the day of the collection, it’s best to remove these items from your list of items to throw away before booking your skip.
Fridges, Freezers and Air Conditioning Units
You cannot place in a skip refrigerators, freezers and similar appliances containing gases such as freon which must be removed by a qualified technician before they can be recycled as scrap. Items such as these are usually collected by councils as part of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) scheme and many retailers will also collect such items and use them as part of their deal when selling similar new products.
Plasterboard and Gypsum Materials
Plasterboard is not the normal type of waste dumped in landfill and can begin to break down whilst in skip. Mixed with other types of waste it can give off the worst type of gas, hydrogen sulphide which in high concentration can be very toxic in enclosed spaces. Most skip companies will now book a separate skip for plasterboard which can be placed in a plasterboard skip.
Mattresses, Sofas and Foam-Filled Furniture
Upholstered household furniture, including bed mattresses and sofa beds, and household furniture containing foam, are now subject to tighter controls over flame retardants and the tracking of these in waste. Many recycling sites are refusing these items in mixed skips. However, such items can be taken to your local household waste recycling centre, or even to furniture charities who will collect items of value and re-sell them in charity shops to raise money for their work. Many such charities will also collect items of good quality in full.
Gas Canisters, Aerosols and Pressurised Containers
Old gas bottles, cans of spray paint, aerosol cans – all of these are pressurized and therefore pose a risk of fire or explosion when compacted or crushed. While empty aerosols may be put in your household recycling bin, you should take full, empty canisters and bottles back to the supplier or to a hazardous waste collection point.
Asbestos-Containing Materials
Asbestos containing materials such as old textured ceiling coatings, garage roofing sheets and some soffits cannot be disposed of of in a general skip as they are classed as hazardous waste. The Health and Safety Executive give guidance on how to safely identify and manage asbestos containing materials and that they should only be removed by a licensed asbestos removal contractor.
Liquids, Paints, Oils and Chemicals
We class wet waste as an ‘untolerated contaminant’ of dry waste. As such it can severely contaminate other recyclable materials to render a whole load of waste to be rejected from a skip and sent to landfill. Paints, solvents, domestic fuels, etc. must be disposed of of of at your local hazardous waste collection day or taken to a recycling centre with a suitable drop off point. If you are undertaking a clearance as part of a renovation then you must comply with the legal waste disposal duties to ensure that you dispose of all waste materials from the site, including chemicals and fluids, in an acceptable manner. You can arrange Skip Hire Norfolk for your home clearance but need to ensure that the ‘untolerated contaminates’ are removed and disposed of separately before we arrive. You will then need to store them until your next collection date.
By removing these items from your list first, you can ensure the rest of your items are collected without any hassle.