Frequently Asked Questions

Trade waste = commercial waste = business waste. All three are interchangeable UK terms for any waste produced by a business, shop, office, or commercial premises. Industrial waste is a more specific sub-set — typically waste from manufacturing or processing operations, and may have additional regulatory handling. Capital Recycle handles general commercial waste; industrial-specific waste streams are referred to specialist partners as appropriate.

No — UK law does not require a contract. But UK law does require a Duty of Care: every transfer of commercial waste to a carrier must be accompanied by a Waste Transfer Note, and you must use a licensed carrier. We issue a WTN on every collection, so the legal compliance is in place whether your service is contract or pay-per-job.

12-month standard with 60-day notice before the renewal date. Auto-renews for a further 12 months if not cancelled. Or 1-month rolling at +10% per lift, cancellable any month — pick whichever fits your planning horizon.

Cancellation in line with the agreed notice period has no charge. The contract schedule does include a small end-of-service bin removal charge (covers final collection and sanitising the bin before retrieval — it reflects the actual cost of that work, not a penalty for leaving), disclosed on request and itemised in the contract.

24 to 48 hours from confirmed booking is typical. Same-day-from-stock is achievable for bag service when our inventory holds, as we warehouse pre-paid sacks for fast turnaround.

Yes. A WTN is a legal document recording who produced the waste, what type of waste it is, and who carried it. UK businesses must retain WTNs for two years. We issue a WTN at every collection and an annual aggregate WTN on request — useful for lease handbacks, sustainability reporting, and compliance audits.

Not as a standing service today — we do not currently operate a separate food-waste stream, and are sourcing a licensed partner for it. Businesses producing 5kg+ per week of food waste (a Simpler Recycling threshold trigger) should raise it before booking so we can route it correctly rather than assume it is covered.

We do not collect these directly — they require specialist handling and disposal routes. As an Upper Tier Waste Carrier we broker referrals to specialist partners and stay involved as your single point of contact.

The 98% figure is a blended company-wide rate calculated from monthly disposal tickets across our partner network. Our pallet stream specifically operates at 100% via energy-from-waste — written substantiation from the partner is available on request. Construction waste sits at 98% (mixed streams cannot fully eliminate landfill).

No. ULEZ and Congestion Charge costs are absorbed in our published pricing. There are no surprise location surcharges within the London service area.

Yes. The phone line and WhatsApp number (0207 101 4003) reach the owner directly. The business is owner-operated by design — service decisions, scope changes, and exceptions go through one person.

We rearrange the collection at the next available slot (typically the next business day) and absorb any reasonable excess waste from the missed visit at no extra charge.

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Yes — multi-site customers are handled under a single master account with consolidated monthly invoicing, per-site collection schedules, and a single point of contact. Call 0207 101 4003 to discuss multi-site setup.

No — wheelie bins are supplied free while you're an active customer, and you pay per collection only, with no monthly rental and no minimum hire period. Bin delivery at the start of service is also free. You are only ever charged for lifts, plus any agreed one-off surcharge disclosed upfront.

No — the published price is the invoiced price, with no environmental levy, fuel surcharge, or admin fee bolted on. The only standard extras are out-of-hours collection, bags or bins over their stated weight limit, and genuinely specialist disposal routes (plasterboard, fridges, WEEE, POPs furniture) — each one flagged and agreed before it appears on an invoice, never as a silent surcharge.

Send a copy of your existing contract or describe the terms, and we'll find the cleanest exit window — most chain contracts require 30 to 90 days' written cancellation notice. We can run alongside your current provider during the changeover, or hold your start date until their notice period ends, so there is no gap in service. The practical first step is always to serve written notice as soon as you've decided to move.

Recurring bag and bin service is invoiced monthly, with VAT shown separately; one-off jobs and pre-paid bag bundles are paid by a secure payment link before collection or delivery. You choose the payment method that suits your business — we don't take card details at sign-up.

Rough sizing by waste volume per collection: 240L for a small office or café (~20kg / 3 bin bags). 360L for a medium café or shop (~30kg / 5 bags). 660L for a restaurant or busy retail (~40kg / 10 bags). 1100L for high-volume hospitality, a supermarket, or a multi-tenant office (~70kg / 15 bags). Weekly is the smallest scheduled lift for recurring bin service; daily is the maximum standard frequency.

No minimum ongoing volume — collection schedules flex to fit. There is a minimum first order (100 bags) and a 5kg weight limit per printed bag.

Wait and Load, Construction, and Office Clearance all use the same flat half-load (£160) / full-load (£320) + VAT cage-van pricing and suit mixed general waste (timber, packaging, non-upholstered furniture, strip-out debris) with no per-item disposal surcharges. Bulky Waste is priced per item (£75 + VAT call-out plus a per-item rate) because sofas, mattresses, fridges, and cookers each carry their own disposal-compliance cost (POPs, WEEE, F-Gas) that a flat load price can't absorb reliably.

Upholstered furniture (sofas, armchairs, dining chairs) has been classed as a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) waste stream since December 2022 under UK regulations. It cannot go into general waste — it must be segregated and routed via a specialist POPs-compliant disposal route. This is a regulatory requirement, not a discretionary service choice, and is built into the standard per-item / load pricing.

Plasterboard and insulation must be kept fully segregated from the rest of the load — they're classified as sulphate-bearing waste and go via a specialist disposal route, charged as a separate surcharge (+£60 + VAT flat per load).

Credit terms are earned, not extended upfront. The first job on any new account runs pro-forma (paid before or at collection); repeat customers move to agreed credit terms after a track record of a few successful jobs. Call 0207 101 4003 for multi-cage or recurring contractor accounts.

Yes — a monthly or per-project recycling summary with tonnage handled and blended landfill-diversion rate, for BREEAM Wst 01/02 evidence, main-contractor PQQ submissions, ISO 14001 EMS files, B Corp impact assessment, or client-side ESG reporting. Flag the requirement at quote stage.

Yes — crews arrive with full standard PPE (hard hat, hi-vis vest, safety boots, gloves) by default on site-based jobs. Site-specific requirements (FFP3 masks, hearing/eye protection) should be flagged in the booking notes and are confirmed before arrival.

Devices with stored data (hard drives, servers, laptops) are routed via a specialist ITAD partner, wiped to the NIST 800-88 standard, with a certificate issued per device or per batch. Collection, transit, wipe, recycle, and certificate delivery are coordinated end-to-end — flag the requirement at quote stage so the partner cost and timing are factored in.

Excess weight may be charged separately if a bin is consistently over its stated limit. The response is to discuss upsizing the bin or increasing collection frequency, agreed in writing before any invoice change — no silent surcharges.

Yes — most central London customers do. Items are rolled out (bins) or presented (bags) into an agreed window on collection day, then returned or cleared. Restricted access (basement, gate codes, key holders) should be flagged so a fixed crew slot can be arranged.

Upper Tier Waste Carrier Licence CBDU466346, registered with the UK Environment Agency and verifiable on the public register. It appears on every Waste Transfer Note, quote, and invoice.

Yes, though it's rarely the best economics on its own — rubble and dense hardcore are heavy, so a load hits its weight cap (500kg half / 1,000kg full) before it looks full. Mixed builder's waste with some rubble in it is fine; pure heavy rubble alone is usually cheaper collected by skip.

Yes, with 24–48 hours' notice, across Wait and Load, Construction, Office Clearance, and Bulky Waste. A flat +£100 + VAT surcharge applies on top of the standard tier price. Recurring bag and bin collections already run seven days a week, including weekends, with no weekend premium.

We cover all London postcodes inside the M25 — the central EC, WC and W1 zones, the numbered N, NW, SE, SW, E and W districts, and the outer ring (UB, HA, BR, TW, KT, DA, RM, IG, EN, CR, SM) — plus Watford and the WD postcodes. Same-day collection is fastest in central London and along existing daily routes; for a postcode just outside the M25, call and we'll check whether it fits a current round.

Yes — most multi-stream customers run General Waste and Dry Mixed Recycling together on a single scheduled visit rather than two separate ones. Each stream gets its own annual Duty of Care Waste Transfer Note, useful evidence for ISO 14001, B Corp, or FM-side audits. Recycling is typically priced a little lower per lift than general waste, because separated recyclables carry value.

Yes — cardboard is collected either within your Dry Mixed Recycling stream or as a dedicated cardboard collection, depending on volume. It is one of the most common recycling streams for shops, offices and hospitality, and can be scheduled on the same visit as your general waste.

Yes to both — recurring bag and bin service allows seasonal pauses with reasonable notice and no reactivation fee, and you can upsize, downsize, add or drop a lift at any time with a single phone call. Tell us your closure dates at sign-up and we'll build them into the schedule, or adjust things by phone as they come up. Volume changes are not penalised — that flexibility is the point of the service.

It depends on volume — a single sofa or fridge is cheapest on the per-item Bulky Waste service (from £75 + VAT call-out plus a per-item rate), while ten or more items or a full room is usually cheaper on Wait and Load's flat half-load (£160 + VAT) or full-load (£320 + VAT) pricing. A full office strip-out is normally quoted as a project across one or more full-load visits. Send photos or a rough count and we'll point you to the cheapest route.

Yes — send photos and a rough item count and we'll quote back, usually within the hour. A site visit is only needed for genuinely complex access, such as a basement strip-out, lift restrictions, or restricted-hours sites. Most retail, hospitality and office-clearance jobs are quoted from photos alone.