Households will no longer have to pay to get rid of DIY waste,
Environment Minister announced today (Sunday 18
June).
Following overwhelming public support, the Government will
abolish the fees which some local authorities charge for
disposing of DIY waste at household waste recycling centres
(HWRCs). This will support householders to dispose of their waste
in a responsible manner and encourage recycling.
Around a third of Local Authorities still charge for household
DIY waste. The changes outlined today will mean councils treat
DIY waste the same as household waste and could save households
up to £10 for an individual item – for example, a sheet of
plasterboard.
This will make it much easier and cheaper for people making home
improvements to get rid of their waste – and may reduce the
temptation to use waste cowboys who fly-tip rubbish.
Environment Minister said:
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to dispose of
their waste properly and that’s why we are removing the financial
burden on doing the right thing with DIY trash.
“This not only supports our wider work to tackle fly-tipping and
waste crime, but we are helping home improvers across the nations
make their dream projects a reality.”
These changes complement wider action we are taking to tackle
fly-tipping and waste crime, which is estimated to cost the
economy £924m per year in England. Earlier this year we announced
grants totalling £775,000 to help councils roll out a range of
projects to crack down on fly-tipping. We have consulted on
reforming the waste carrier, broker, dealer regime and on
introducing mandatory digital waste tracking, and we are also
developing a fly-tipping toolkit with National Fly-Tipping
Prevention Group to help spread best practice among local
authorities on tackling the issue.
Executive Director of the Environmental Services
Association, Jacob Hayler, said:
“We welcome any measures that make it easier for householders to
dispose of waste correctly and responsibly at their local
Household Waste Recycling Centre, which in turn reduces the
chance of it falling into the hands of criminals or being
fly-tipped.
“Tackling the scourge of waste crime, from low-level fly-tipping
to industrial-scale illegal operations, will require a
multifaceted approach which is why we also support additional
measures being introduced to help local authorities and to
implement digital waste tracking alongside reform of the
licensing regime for waste carriers, brokers and dealers.”
The Government clarified the law in 2015 that local taxpayers
should not be charged for disposing of household waste at civic
amenity sites – scrapping backdoor “tip taxes”. It has also
repeatedly stated that councils should not be charging for such
DIY household waste disposal either.
The changes announced today clarify that DIY household waste
should be treated the same as household waste.
These reforms will protect the local environment by encouraging
responsible waste disposal, whilst keeping down the cost of
living for households.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Construction waste is considered to be DIY waste and should be
treated as household waste, when it meets the following four
conditions:
- the waste is produced by householders whilst carrying out
small-scale construction or demolition works at their home;
- the waste does not arise from activities that generate an
income for the person who carried them out;
- the waste is not produced on a regular basis requiring HWRC
visits more frequently than four times per household over a four
week period; and
- the quantity of waste per visit is no greater than two 50L
rubble bags or 1 bulky or fitted item no larger than 2000mm x
750mm x700mm, such as a bath tub.
If these conditions are not met, the waste is still construction
waste and can be charged for.
There were a total of 2,238 responses to the consultation. Over
90% of respondents agreed with our proposals to amend legislation
to ensure that householders are not charged for the disposal of
DIY waste at HWRCs.
