Kitchen Installation Rubbish Removal

7 June 2020

Recently done a lot of work to your house and need help on how to dispose of renovation waste? Here's the 5 ways to dispose of waste from home renovations with price guidance included further down:

Use the installer/ company
Take rubbish to the tip (only for small amounts of DIY waste)
Hippo bag
Skip hire
Man & van DIY waste removal
- Example prices

1. Use your installer/ contractor

If you're using a company to install a new bathroom or kitchen for example, they can usually organise waste removal for you. They'll use one of the options below, except you won't have to do any of the organising (though you'll still have to pay for it!)

2. Take rubbish to the tip

From the 1st January 2024, households no longer have to pay to get rid of DIY waste at council recycling centres. However, this only really applies if you have a small amount of waste. This is because recycling centres still charge you to dispose if your waste is over a certain weight limit (this can vary around the country). So, depending on the scale of your renovations, this could be a cheap option. Find your nearest recycling centre here.

3. Use a Hippo bag

A skip bag (essentially a small, canvas skip, and commonly called a Hippo bag) is useful for smaller, messy jobs. They come in various sizes but for a really substantial job then they're probably more hassle than help! To find out which size suits you best, plus what you can & can't put in, prices and how to save money, read our Hippo Bag Guide.

4. Skip hire

For a bigger job with lots of messy parts, you could consider a skip. See our Skip Size Guide for more info, but the typical skip size for renovation work is a 'builders skip' (around 6, 7 or 8 yards) and these can cost between £250 - £350 depending on where you live.

Be aware that there are often more costs associated with skip hire than just the skip itself. If the skip cannot be placed off road (ie. in your driveway), then you may well have to pay extra for a skip permit. Skip permits are fees paid to the local councl for the privilege of having a skip on a public road. In addition, if you have pay & display or resident parking, you will have to pay extra for this to be suspended.

For a full breakdown about skips, we've written a Skip Hire Guide.

5. Hire a man & van waste collector

The most flexible option is hiring a private waste collector to come and get your renovation waste. They will come and load everything up into a van from anywhere on the property and at a time that suits you most.

Make sure that you hire a waste collector that is appropriately licensed with the Environment Agency and has public liability insurance. Unfortunately, there are a lot of cowboy collectors operating by taking rubbish and fly tipping it instead of paying for disposal. Find your nearest, legitimate waste collection business on the LoveJunk marketplace.

How much does it cost to use a man & van waste collector for renovation waste?

Collectors charge based on the amount and type of waste and how urgently you need it gone. Naturally, a huge load of heavy bricks and rubble that you need gone the same afternoon will cost you a lot more.

To help give you an idea of what you should be paying, see our handy Rubbish Removal Prices tool where you can compare real jobs from all over the country. We've also included some examples below of renovation waste disposal jobs: