Bulk Waste

Illegal dumping of bulk waste - including items like mattresses, sofas, and chairs - can cause a significant financial strain on South Essex Homes.  These items require specialised and costly disposal to ensure public safety and environmental protection.

With fly-tipping incidents on the rise, we need the support of our community to combat this issue and prevent unnecessary increases in service charges. 

There are different charges to dispose of different bulk waste items, and some of the items that we have to dispose of due to fly tipping - such as mattresses, cushions, sofas, armchairs, office & dining chairs, headboards etc - are known as 'POP' waste items, which stands for ‘Persistent Organic Pollutants’.

There is a duty of care and a legal requirement for us to ensure these items are disposed of correctly to protect human health and the environment, therefore disposing of these items commercially comes at quite a cost as they cannot be disposed of in the same way as general household waste.

How much have we spent on bulk waste disposal in the past year?

Over the last year we have spent around:

  • £12,040 on POP loads disposal (56 loads at £215 each)
  • £14,200 on individual mattress disposal (568 items at £25 each)
  • £5,550 on other large POP items disposal such as sofas, armchairs, cushions, dining chairs etc (222 items at £25 each)
  • £11,115 on general bulk waste disposal (57 loads at £195 each)

This amounts to around £42,905 on bulk waste disposal per year!

That does not include collection and disposal of special items such as fridges, oil, tyres, asbestos etc which we cannot dispose of ourselves and therefore must pay for a contractor to collect and dispose of, similarly to the treatment of items which are contaminated with bed bugs.

We need your help!

Unfortunately, it is not sustainable for South Essex Homes to keep covering this cost and so, if we are overspending on bulk waste disposal in a particular area, this may lead to an increase in the service charge there, sadly only due to the actions of a few.

A large part of the problem appears to be non-South Essex Homes residents also dumping items illegally at our blocks. Colleagues in our Estate Services team work hard alongside the Council to resolve these issues but any help that residents can offer is extremely valuable.

If you see someone dumping an item in your community, make sure you report this to us with photographic evidence so that it can be recharged directly to the person who the item belongs to, and not to you in your service charge! Photographic evidence could be an address on a dumped box, or the number plate of a vehicle that the item has come out of.

We have already seen incidents where residents have submitted photos of illegal dumping which has led to a successful recharge, but we need as much community involvement and help as possible!

Your waste is your responsibility

If you have a large item to dispose of, there is lots of information on the Council’s website on the correct ways to dispose of bulky waste and how to arrange a collection with Veolia: www.southend.gov.uk/recycling-waste-0/bulky-waste-collection

You can also pass on larger items using websites such as ‘Freecycle’ where you can give away your unwanted furniture, and some local charity shops will even come and collect your old furniture and resell it if it is in good enough condition!

You can also take rubbish to the Household Waste Recycling Area located at Stock Road, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 5QF.

If you use a waste removal company, please make sure they have a waste carrier registration number.