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Council large item collection prices 2023

3 April 2023

Comparison of bulky waste collection prices charged by councils in 2023

Curious to see how council large item collection prices for householders compare across England in 2023? We’ve researched each council’s prices to find out those offering the best value, the most expensive and also the ones not offering a service at all. What does your council’s service look like? How do they rank? The article covers the following key sections:

  • Average price for a council large item collection
  • Council collection prices ranked by region
  • 10 most expensive council bulky item collection services
  • Cheapest councils 
  • Free council collection service
  • Councils that don’t offer any service
  • Complete list of bulky waste collection charges in England by council
  • Prices for collections of multiple items

 

NOTE: Councils charge for large item collections in different ways. Some charge per item and some charge a flat fee for up to a certain number of items. We compare how much councils charge for a single standard item (namely, a two-seater sofa). We cover combination collection charges at the end of this article.

Note that due to the recent implementation of the POP regulations that require upholstered seating to be disposed of in a certain way, many councils are reviewing their charges for sofa collections. As a result, please note that the rates shown below are subject to change.

 

£31 is average price for a large item collection

Reviewing large item collection charges by councils across England in 2023 we found the average price charged for 1 item is £31. 

The most expensive council is Runnymede that charges £75. At the other end of the scale, there are eighteen councils that offer the service for free (see below).  Most councils charge within the £20 – £40 price range.

Below is a chart that shows how the price varies across councils.

 

Chart of council bulky waste collection prices 2023 

cost of council single item collection chart

 

 

Prices by region

Here is a table of the average prices of a council large item collection by region. We’ve organised in ascending order of average price, with the North East being the cheapest region and the South East being the most expensive.

 

Region Average price £
North East 13
North West 22
East Midlands 25
West Midlands 28
London 29
Yorkshire and The Humber 29
South West 35
South East 38
East 39

 

10 most expensive councils for bulky waste collection

Here are the 10 most expensive councils in England. Unfortunately, if you live in any of these areas you’ll be paying quite a lot for council large item collection! The most expensive council is Runnymede in Surrey which charges £75 to collect 1 item. 

 

Council Region Price £
Runnymede South East 75
Richmond upon Thames London 71
Spelthorne South East 70
South Somerset South West 69
Mendip South West 69
North Somerset South West 69
Sedgemoor South West 69
Somerset West & Taunton South West 69
Colchester East 69
Tonbridge and Malling South East 65

 

10 cheapest councils for bulky waste collection

At the other end of the scale are the councils offering the lowest price. Kirklees and Gateshead will collect 1 item for under £10. 

 

Council Region Price £
Kirklees Yorkshire and The Humber 6
Gateshead North East 8
Southend-on-Sea East 10
Walsall West Midlands 10
Bolsover East Midlands 10
Newcastle upon Tyne North East 10
North Tyneside North East 10
Redditch West Midlands 10
Bromsgrove West Midlands 10
Basildon East 11

 

 

Councils offering Free large item collection

Even better than a cheap service is a free one! People living in any of the councils below are fortunate to have a council that collects multiple large items completely free of charge. There are 18 councils in total that don’t charge to collect a single bulky household item.

 

Council Region
Enfield London
Harrow London
Hyndburn North West
Kingston upon Hull Yorkshire and The Humber
Leeds Yorkshire and The Humber
Leicester East Midlands
Liverpool North West
Manchester North West
Middlesbrough North East
North Lincolnshire Yorkshire and The Humber
Pendle North West
Reading South East
Redbridge London
Rochdale North West
Sunderland North East
Tower Hamlets London
Waltham Forest London
Wigan North West

 

Councils that do not offer a bulky item collection service

For various reasons, these councils don’t offer any sort of bulky waste collection service. If you live in any of these areas, you will need to find an alternative way to have your bulky waste items collected. 

 

Council Region
Isles of Scilly South West
Tendring East

 

Complete list of bulky waste collection charges in England

This list is every council’s charge for a single item collection in alphabetical order. 

Source: LoveJunk, March 2023.

 

Council charges to collect a combination of items

For completeness, here is some information about council collections of a combination of items.

We class a ‘combination collection’ as 3 items: namely, a sofa, a fridge and a mattress. The most expensive councils for a combination collection are Fareham and Three Rivers in (both in Hampshire), which both charge £110. 

Combination collection conditions

  • Sofas – Due to the POP legislation mentioned at the beginning of the article, some councils are collecting upholstered items separately. Whether they charge for the extra collection varies by council. 
  • Fridges – Charges for fridges tend to vary from council to council. Some class them as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and collect separately. 
  • Mattresses – Mattresses are usually a fairly easy item to price and don’t require any special collections. 

 

Further reading

 

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