Due to regulations that came into force on 1 January 2023, we have changed the way we process certain items of bulky waste, such as sofas and soft furnishings.
Some waste upholstered domestic seating has been found to contain levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) above the legal limit. These POPs can be damaging to the environment if allowed to leach into watercourses.
As a result, such items can no longer be disposed of in landfill but must be incinerated.
Below are examples of what materials are and are not POP materials:
Examples of items that could contain POPs
- sofas,
- sofa beds,
- armchairs,
- kitchen and dining room chairs,
- (upholstered) stools and foot stools,
- home office chairs,
- futons,
- bean bags,
- floor and sofa cushions
Examples of items that are not treated as containing POPs
- non-upholstered seating items, i.e. a wooden chair without a cushioned or textile back, seat or arm
- beds, mattresses, headboards and bedding
- carpets and rugs
- curtains and blinds
- wheelchairs
- car seats
- (padded) high chairs
- deck chairs
What this means for you
As some bulky waste is taken to landfill and some is incinerated, we will run two separate collections and take the waste to different locations.
This means if you have several items of bulky waste to collect we may take items that do not contain POPs on one day, and any items that do contain POPs on another.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
More about Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that are known to stay intact and do not break down. If waste containing these is not managed responsibly, they have the potential to cause damage to the wider environment.
The POPs found in waste upholstered domestic seating (including sofas, armchairs, upholstered dining and office chairs etc.) are usually present as a result of a flame retardant chemical, decabromodiphenyl ether, which has been banned since 2019 and is no longer used.
The majority of soft furnishings in your home will have fire retardants applied to them in order to meet Fire Safety standards. It is possible that some of these items will have fire retardants that contain identified POPs but not at levels that can cause concern to the environment.
Any soft furnishing item bought new after 2019 should not contain fire retardants using the current list of identified POPs. Legislation however requires that such items are all segregated at the point of disposal. This is to ensure that all items potentially including POPs are fully and safely destroyed.