How to Dispose of a Sofa

13 September 2023

If you need to get rid of an old couch, sofa or sofa bed, this is how to dispose of a sofa 5 ways:

Donate or sell
Take it to the local tip
Council collection
Pay a licensed waste collector
Collection by a sofa retailer

1. Donate (or sell) your sofa

An estimated 1,000,000 sofas are reused in the UK each year. This is about 17% of all sofas that have reached the end of their life. If your unwanted sofa is still in good condition, clean, not faded or stained, and the springs are decent - then hopefully you’re thinking about reuse rather than disposal. In other words, donating or selling your sofa to somebody else that can use it.

You can donate or sell your sofa directly to someone or indirectly by passing it on to a furniture reuse charity or second-hand dealer who then resells or donates it to someone else. Either way, the sofa will be reused rather than be destroyed.

However, beware that charities and dealers will only take your sofa if it has a FIRE SAFETY certificate. This is because businesses are not legally allowed to sell furniture without a fire label.

Selling or donating your old sofa can be done offline or online. Let's look at each in a bit more detail.

a) Offline options for sofa reuse

For the less digitally-minded of you, the main ways to donate or selling your sofa are:

Offering it to friends and family
Putting it outside your house with a big sign saying something like ‘Please take me, I’m free’. Assuming it’s not raining and your neighbours don't accuse you of fly-tipping!
Taking it to a local car boot sale - although few
Selling it at an auction - although this is really only for antiques
Donating to a local furniture charity / social enterprise

The following major charities accept sofa donations:

Charity	Phone
Age UK	080 0077 8751
Barnardos	020 7274 4165
British Heart Foundation	020 7160 6210
British Red Cross	020 7228 3820
Cancer Research UK	020 7701 2500
Emmaus	030 0123 2001
Oxfam	0300 200 1252
PDSA	0800 917 2509
The Salvation Army	020 7367 4500
Sense	0300 330 9257
Shelter	020 8563 2388
Sue Ryder	020 7394 8384

Bear in mind that several of these furniture reuse charities are registered as collectors on the LoveJunk junk removal and reuse marketplace (see below). So, if you’d rather not ring around to arrange a collection, an easier solution is to list on LoveJunk and let the nearest available one find you.

b) Online options for donating sofas

The major reuse websites are Freegle, Freecycle, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Auctioneer (if antique) and LoveJunk. The big difference between LoveJunk and the other online options is LoveJunk also has waste collectors on it. So, even if noone is interested in taking your sofa for free, you will still get lots of quotes from waste companies to take it away. Our Free Collection of Unwanted Furniture guide has lots of details on each site and how best to post your listings.

2. Take it to the local tip

Council civic amenity sites, otherwise known as Household Waste Recycling Centres or your ‘local tip’, accept old sofas. You can find their address and opening hours by contacting your local council. Check out our handy list of London rubbish tips with a map & opening times of all London HWRCs.

The biggest issue with taking your sofa to your local HWRC is how you’ll fit your sofa in your car. Sofas are hard enough to get into your house, let alone out again in one piece. For this reason, many people choose to cut the arms off their sofa to fit it into the car and to make it easy to carry. So, if you definitely know you won’t be needing your sofa again or it’s not in good enough condition for reuse, go ahead and break it up. Alternatively, you could consider hiring a van. However, bear in mind that several council tips don't allow vans access!

3. Council collection

The council provides residents a collection service for unwanted bulky items, including sofas and sofa beds. Prices vary from free to £76, the average cost being £35. Although relatively cheap, the major downside to the council bulky waste collection service is speed and convenience. Many take weeks to come and also very few collect from within the property.

Below is a table showing how much each London council charges to collect and dispose of a sofa.

London council	Charge
Richmond upon Thames	£76
Havering	£66
Ealing	£48
Hillingdon	£48
Bexley	£46
Hammersmith & Fulham	£45
City of London	£43
Hounslow	£41
Lewisham	£41
Kensington & Chelsea	£41
Brent	£40
Bromley	£40
Kingston Upon Thames	£40
Croydon	£39
Barnet	£38
Merton	£37
Sutton	£37
Barking & Dagenham	£35
Southwark	£35
Westminster	£34
Islington	£32
Camden	£25
Wandsworth	£24
Newham	£22
Hackney	£21
Haringey	£20
Lambeth	£20
Greenwich	£13
Enfield	£0
Harrow	£0
Redbridge	£0
Tower Hamlets	£0
Waltham Forest	£0

Source: LoveJunk 2024

4. How to dispose of a sofa with man & van collectors

If you don't fancy waiting for the council, would like the sofa collected from inside your property, or maybe have a few other things to dispose of at the same time, then you will need a waste collector.

But make sure they are licensed as a waste carrier and properly insured. Bulky waste collection is an industry renowned for cowboy operators who charge cheaply only to dump your old sofa illegally in a field or layby. In other words, fly tipping.

Use LoveJunk marketplace to get quotes from and compare customer ratings of licensed waste carriers. The typical charge for collection and disposal of a 2 seater sofa that cannot be reused is £50 - £120 (the average is £63). Price varies according to the size and weight of your sofa (sofa beds and 3 seater sofas cost more because they are so heavy), collection urgency, and also ease of access.

To browse 100s of priced examples go to LoveJunk's gallery of sofa removal jobs at https://www.lovejunk.com/gallery/sofa-removal-and-reuse. There are also several reuse examples if you scroll down to the bottom of this article.

5. Pay your new sofa retailer to take it away

Some furniture retailers offer a take-back service for your old sofa when you buy a new one from them. The table belows shows which retailers offer this service and how much they charge. ‘N/A’ means the retailer does not offer the service. Prices range from £80 to £150. Dunelm charges £80 to remove a 2 seater sofa. Whereas DFS tops the pops of prices with a whopping £129!

Sofa Retailer	2 seater sofa	3 seater sofa	Sofa bed
Argos	N/A	N/A	N/A
DFS	£129	£129	£129
Dunelm	£80	£90	£140
Furniture Village	£90	£100	£150
Heals	£90	£100	£150
IKEA	N/A	N/A	N/A
John Lewis	£45	£45	£45
Loaf	£89	£89	£89
Next	£90	£100	£150
SCS	£90	£100	£150
Sofa.com	£99	£99	£99
Sofology	£129	£129	£129
Swyft	£90	£100	£150
The Range	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wayfair	N/A	N/A	N/A

source: LoveJunk 2024

POP legislation affected sofa disposal prices significantly

Sofa collection prices increased materially because of January 2023 changes in POP legislation. These new regulations require upholstered furniture to be taken to a waste to energy facility rather than landfilled or broken down for recycling. This creates higher disposal costs, which feed through to higher collection charges.