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DIY waste
Government has announced plans to abolish charges for disposing of limited amounts and types of DIY waste at recycling centres. This applies to small-scale projects carried out by householders on their own home.
It is expected that any changes to the legislation will take place later this year. Until then, current charges remain and customers with DIY-type construction and demolition waste will still be directed to our ‘Pay as you throw service’ available at all Norfolk Recycling Centres.
The recycling centres accept domestic household waste with no charge. In the current regulations that the recycling centres operate within, DIY waste is classed as construction and demolition waste and not household waste. While we accept DIY waste at the recycling centres, to reduce the financial burden on the Council Tax payer, we ask customers to pay for disposal of the DIY waste they have produced. This allows the Council Tax that would otherwise be used to pay for DIY waste disposal to be used on other key services.
Other options include hiring a skip or employing a licenced waste carrier. Please make sure to factor in the cost of disposing of DIY waste when planning your latest DIY project.
Pay as you throw service
You can pay to dispose of any amount of DIY type construction and demolition waste at any of our Recycling Centres. Speak to a member of staff on arrival and they will assess your waste and take payment before you unload your waste. Please ask if you need a receipt.
Cash payments are accepted at all sites up to £10. Card payments are required for all payments over £10. Where possible please continue to use your credit/debit card to make payments.
You will pay less if you separate your waste - separated materials are charged at a lower rate than mixed loads.
We will endeavour to treat your DIY waste in the most environmentally beneficial way, by sending it for reuse, recycling or energy from waste treatment as appropriate.
You must separate plasterboard or we won’t accept it.
Any decision made by our staff about DIY waste will be final.
Pay as you throw guide prices
We calculate prices based on the material and amount of waste you bring. Your load will be assessed by site staff and prices are non-negotiable. As loads will be assessed into 80 litre bag equivalent amounts we recommend that you separate and bag as much of your waste as possible.
An 80-litre bag is the same size as an old sized dustbin. One is available on site for reference.
There is a half bag/item price for plasterboard. This material is difficult to throw away correctly and is expensive, requiring specialist disposal. We recognise many people bring plasterboard to the recycling centre and the half bag price has been brought in to help those with a very small amount to dispose of. Prices will be £6 for amounts less than half a bag (40 litres or equivalent).
We can’t provide you with an accurate price without viewing your waste at the recycling centre. The guide prices below include VAT.
Prices per 80 litre sack or single item
The cost of recycling and waste disposal have been increasing and as a result we have had to raise the prices of our Pay as You Throw (DIY Waste) service from 1 April 2023.
This is the first increase since the prices were set in 2018 and the service still offers good value for money for customers.
From 1 April 2023 the price per 80 litre sack or single item is:
- Flat glass - £5
- Unsorted/non-recyclable DIY waste - £6. For example roofing felt, plastic guttering, insulation, baths, soil, turf and other mixed DIY waste.
- Plasterboard - £12 (For small amounts of plasterboard a half bag price of £6 is available) Plasterboard is only accepted at Caister, Dereham, Hempton, King's Lynn, Mayton Wood, Norwich North, Norwich South and Thetford
- Rubble - £3.50
- Timber - £3.50
- Tyres (car) - £6 per tyre and they are only accepted at Caister, Dereham, Hempton, King’s Lynn, Mayton Wood, Norwich North, Norwich South and Thetford.
Answers to frequently asked questions
The charges are the same across all our recycling centres.
Charges are for DIY-type waste. Household waste is accepted free of charge. Other charges include tyres and trade waste.
As a general rule, non-household or DIY waste items are materials created from the construction, demolition, alteration or repair of a home or garden. Materials may include a sink, bath, kitchen unit, radiator, fence panel, guttering, rubble, soil and turf.
It doesn't include asbestos or paint/thinners which are classed as hazardous waste.
We only accept paint on our annual hazardous waste days but if you thoroughly dry out the unwanted paint you can put it in your rubbish bin (not your recycling bin) for collection. More information about disposing of paint.
We don’t accept asbestos at any of our recycling centres, even during our hazardous waste events. More information about asbestos removal and disposal.
Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste. Fly-tipping is a crime that should be reported to your local district, city or borough council.
The majority of fly-tipping is of items that would have been accepted free of charge at our recycling centres anyway, such as sofas, white goods and other electrical items and garden waste. We’ll continue to accept this waste for free.
Previous changes to our recycling centre service, such as making sites part time, have not shown an increase in illegal dumping of waste. Other councils who have introduced a similar charge for DIY type waste have not seen a significant increase in fly-tipping.
Norfolk data from incidents on public land shows that only around 4.1% of incidents of illegally dumped waste relate to construction or demolition waste.
Learn more about SCRAP fly-tipping in Norfolk
Under current government legislation DIY waste is classed as ‘construction and demolition’ waste and falls under the category of ‘industrial’ waste. However the Government has indicated that it plans to abolish charges.
Until new legislation is in place by law, councils do not have to accept industrial waste at their recycling centres.
Current legislation includes:
- The Environmental Protection Act 1990, Part 2, section 51 which requires the County Council to provide residents with sites for the disposal of household waste
- The Local Authority Charging Order 2015 which prohibits charging residents for the disposal of household waste or for entering or exiting recycling centres
- Controlled Waste Regulations 2012, Schedule 1, Part 3 classes construction and demolition waste (or DIY waste as we call it) as industrial waste, and not household waste, and therefore we can make a charge for it
Your council tax goes towards the operation of household waste recycling centres. DIY type waste is not household waste and is not included in your council tax.
We used to be able to absorb a small amount of DIY waste from customers but this is no longer possible due to the high cost of disposal of this material.
Charging for DIY waste ensures that your council tax payment goes towards paying for essential services.
Any resident taking on a normal DIY project can use the recycling centres.
For larger projects producing more DIY waste, other options include hiring a skip or employing a licenced waste carrier.
Visit Norfolk Recycles website for more options to dispose of your DIY waste.
Make sure you factor in the cost of disposing of DIY waste when planning your latest DIY project.
If you employ a trader to dispose of waste, you need to be aware of your householder duty of care.
Under the Waste (Household Waste) Duty of Care (England and Wales) Regulations 2005, householders must take reasonable measures to ensure that waste produced on their property is passed on to an authorised person.
If you are a householder, it is your responsibility to check that any trader removing waste from your property is a registered waste carrier.
You can check on the Environment Agency website.
Rogue waste operators will charge people for waste disposal but won’t pay to use the commercial waste sites that they are supposed to use.
If their fly-tipped waste is traced back to a particular household, the householder could be fined.
You can dispose of commercial waste for a charge at Thetford, King’s Lynn, Dereham, Norwich North, Norwich South, Mayton Wood, Hempton and Caister recycling centres.
Types of waste we accept
Search our A to Z to see what we accept at recycling centres.