Postcode lottery for bulky waste collections

THINKING of having a new year household clear-out? Well, where you live could dictate how much you will pay your local council to take bulky waste away.

A wide variation in costs across Derbyshire is typical of the massive differences across the country, according to data unearthed by the BBC, which concludes that the price of bulky waste collection is a “postcode lottery”.

And people in Derby will find themselves paying £31 for three items to be taken away – while 12 miles away in Nottingham, bulky waste is removed for free.

Claims that flytipping is at its worst where people have to pay to have bulky items removed is borne out by the almost one million reported flytipping incidents in England in 2017-18. Of those, more than half – 521,895 – of the items dumped were white goods or other household waste, a category that includes furniture.

The cheapest area in Derbyshire for bulky waste collection is Bolsover where up to three items will cost £10 and up to nine, £20. In contrast, It costs £31 for up to three items and £46.50 for six items in Derby.

Elsewhere, Derbyshire Dales District Council charges £20.95 for one to three items, Erewash charges £24 for up to six items and South Derbyshire charges £30 for up six items.

Items usually eligible for bulky waste collection include those that will not fit in the usual rubbish collection bins, such as furniture or televisions.

There are usually separate prices for taking away a fridge/freezer, which also vary greatly. It is £31 in the High Peak Borough Council area, £10.50 in Derby and Bolsover District Council charges nothing.

In contrast, across the border in Nottingham, the city council there offers a free weekly bulky waste collection which residents can request online, believing that it works out cheaper than collecting flytipped rubbish.

Nottingham City councillor Sally Longford, portfolio holder for energy and environment, said: “The feeling is that a free bulky waste service reduces the amount of fly-tipping, and that seems to be borne out by the evidence.

“Compared to other authorities where flytipping has been going up for the last few years, ours hasn’t.

“We used to charge some time ago and realised that it was much more convenient and efficient to have an organised system where if you live in a certain part of the city you can ring up, order a free bulky waste collection and it will be collected on a particular day. It is a much more seamless system.

“We have 60,000 bulky waste collections a year. People like it. Some people use it a lot, some use it very occasionally. We are very proud of having clean streets and we won a national award for being the country’s cleanest big city.”

Professor Simin Davoudi, professor of environmental policy and planning at Newcastle University,