Council large item collection prices 2023

Junk Diaries

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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 

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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

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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

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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.

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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

• Free Bulky Waste Collection – How to Save Money on Bulky Waste Collection which also has links to regional guides.
• Council Bulky Waste Collection – 5 things to know about the latest statistics
• Fly Tipping Prosecution – analysis of council actions against fly tipping in 2023
• How to dispose of rubbish – our ultimate rubbish removal resource

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