Charges introduced to dump waste at recycling centres in Hampshire

The county council will bring in charges for soil, rubble, plasterboard and asbestos on October 1.

Residents wanting to dump soil and rubble at centres will be charged £2.50 per part or item, or for a whole 30 litre bag.

There will also be £10 for sheets for plasterboard or £6 per 30 litre bag, while cement-bonded asbestos will be charged at £12 per sheet.

Cash and card payment options will be available at each centre.

Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Environment and Transport, Councillor Rob Humby, said: "Managing Hampshire's waste costs all the councils in the county around £100 million each year, and, coupled with ongoing reductions in Government funding, we needed to look carefully at how we deal with and pay for waste.

"This type of DIY and construction waste is particularly expensive to dispose of, costing Hampshire's council taxpayers around £1 million each year.

"This new charge is being introduced from October 1 to cover the additional costs of disposing DIY and construction waste compared to household waste, which we believe is the fairest way for as many as possible, and which residents told us they support. Many authorities elsewhere in the UK already charge for this type of waste to cover their cost of its disposal, and Hampshire will now be doing the same.

"If you are due to start a large renovation project, I would suggest looking at the cost of hiring a skip versus multiple trips to your local HWRC with items that you will be charged for. However, I would stress that these charges apply to the specified waste types only and no householder will be expected to pay for normal household waste, green garden waste or recyclable materials such as scrap metal or glass."

Soil and rubble includes construction and demolition materials such as stone, rubble, clay, concrete, bricks, blocks, sand, tiles, paving slabs, and ceramic bathroom suites. There will be no charge for crockery or clay/terracotta flower pots. The limit of six bags of soil and rubble per household per month will be lifted.

The charges follow a public consultation in 2014, in which 6,500 members of the public responded to proposals on how to meet savings the County Council is required to make. A further consultation which took place this year, looked at cost savings in other areas such as changing opening hours, trade waste charges and the possibility of charging for other non-household materials.

Hampshire HWRCs will also be accepting trade waste from small and medium sized businesses on a chargeable basis from October 1, accepting the same materials that the sites currently accept from residents. More information will be available in due course.