How to dispose of hazardous waste

Hazardous waste includes things like asbestos, chemicals and batteries.

How and where to dispose of your hazardous household waste

You must separate out any hazardous waste from your general household waste before taking it to your local Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC). Upon arrival at the HWRC you must notify a member of staff that you have brought hazardous waste, ask where this needs to be disposed of and follow site staff's instructions. Hazardous waste must not just be placed in skips without consulting a member of staff first.

Hazardous items include things like:

  • asbestos
  • chemicals, such as weed killer, brake fluid, petrol, diesel, paint stripper and oil-based paint
  • batteries

Advice on duty of care and checking if your waste is hazardous, read GOV.UK's hazardous waste website.

If you're unsure what waste you can bring, please contact us.

Customer Services Team
Telephone: 0300 373 3300

Asbestos, household chemicals and batteries

Small amounts of asbestos waste can be disposed of from your home free of charge at some of our Household Waste Recycling Centres. Sites that accept asbestos are:

Before you make your visit call the Household Waste Recycling Centre so they can check whether they have space for your asbestos waste.

How much you can take and how to transport the asbestos

The maximum amount of asbestos that will be accepted on any day is four sheets or bags, over a maximum of three visits. Consult a member of staff if making returning visits to ensure there is enough space in the asbestos skip for the amount you are bringing in.

Asbestos must be:

  • in lengths no longer than 6ft (we do not advise breaking your asbestos up as this is dangerous)
  • double wrapped in polythene and sealed with tape before visiting the site
  • declared to a member of staff upon arrival at the HWRC

Do not:

  • put the sheets or bags in a skip or just leave them
  • break up asbestos sheets as this is dangerous

If you need to dispose of more than a few sheets of asbestos or the lengths of asbestos you have are longer than 6ft, you should contact a specialist contractor who is a licensed waste carrier.

Disposing of asbestos safely

Health and safety advice on asbestos including information about the safe removal of asbestos related products and removal licences can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.

If you are a business that has hazardous trade waste

We don’t collect trade waste and you can't take it to the HWRC.

You should keep hazardous trade waste secure and arrange for it to be collected by a specialist contractor who is a licensed waste carrier.

Find a registered waste carrier on GOV.UK

Chemicals

Any chemicals should be reported to site staff when attending the HWRC.

Household batteries

There are designated household battery banks at all of our HWRC's. Batteries should never be put into any other skip or in your household waste bins as they can cause fires.  Please remove any batteries from items such as toys before disposal at the HWRC.