Every year we clear a lot of items and waste. Sofas from void properties. Beds, fridges and carpets from house clearances. The contents of custody cells after a bad night. Hazardous waste from trauma and biohazard cleans that nobody else will touch. Litter and sanitary waste from public toilets. Ten months into 2026, it comes to 780 tonnes.

Most people never think about where it goes after the van door shuts. We do, because we have to: every load we carry has a legal duty of care attached to it, and every one of our clients, from councils to police forces to housing providers, has sustainability targets of their own that our waste counts towards. So this year we decided to add it up and publish it.

The numbers

Between 1 January and 31 October 2026, our teams collected 780 tonnes of waste across all of our contracts. This is what happened to it.

393 tonnes were recycled. Half of everything we collected. Wood, metal, cardboard, plastics, glass, textiles and mattresses, separated at licensed transfer stations and sent on to be made into something else.

180 tonnes were reused or donated. Sofas, beds, tables, wardrobes, white goods and household items that were still perfectly usable went back into homes through local reuse partners and charities, rather than being crushed. This is the number we are proudest of, and we will come back to it.

63 tonnes were composted into soil. Garden waste, green waste and organic material from clearances, turned into compost and soil improver.

60 tonnes were stripped for metals and parts. Electricals, appliances and mixed items broken down so that the metals, motors and components inside could be recovered.

12 tonnes were incinerated. This is the clinical and hazardous waste from our crime scene, trauma and biohazard work: sharps, contaminated materials, items that cannot be cleaned and must not go anywhere else. Licensed incineration is the only safe and legal route for it, and it accounts for less than 2% of the total.

72 tonnes went to landfill. 9%. Residual waste that could not be recycled, reused or recovered.

Put together, 708 of the 780 tonnes, 91%, were kept out of landfill.

Why reuse matters more than recycling

Recycling is good. Reuse is better, and it is the part of this picture that most waste contractors cannot offer.

When we clear a property, our operatives are not just loading a van. They are sorting as they go: what is damaged beyond use, what can be recycled, and what is simply a decent piece of furniture that the previous occupant no longer needs. The third category is where the 180 tonnes comes from. A sofa that goes to a reuse charity furnishes a flat for someone moving on from homelessness. A fridge that works goes to a family who could not afford a new one. A bed is a bed.

This is what our Bulk Option service was set up to do, and it is why we built reuse into the way the teams work rather than treating it as an afterthought. It costs us a little more time on every job. It is worth it.

How we know the numbers are real

A figure like 91% is easy to claim and hard to prove, so here is how it is built.

Every collection we make is weighed on the bridge at the transfer station and recorded on a waste transfer note, which we photograph and file against the job on the same day. Every carrier we use is licensed and listed on the Environment Agency’s public register. At the end of the period, the carriers report what they did with what we delivered: how much went for recycling, reuse, composting, recovery, treatment and landfill. Those figures, and the weights on our notes, are the source for everything above.

If you are one of our clients and you would like the breakdown for your own contract, for your sustainability reporting or a social value return, ask your contract manager and we will send it.

The number we are working on

72 tonnes to landfill is a good result by the standards of the sector. It is not zero. Most of what still ends up there is residual waste from biohazard and trauma work that is contaminated beyond recovery, and mixed material from clearances that cannot be separated safely on site.

Next year we want that number lower. Better sorting at the point of collection, more reuse partners in the areas we work, and tighter decisions about what goes in which bag before it leaves the property. We will publish the 2027 figures the same way, and you can hold us to them.

Why this matters to the people we work for

Councils, police forces and housing providers are all measured on the environmental impact of the contracts they let. Waste is one of the biggest lines in that calculation, and it is one of the hardest to evidence, because it depends on contractors telling the truth about what they did.

We would rather show you than tell you. 780 tonnes, 91% kept out of landfill, every transfer note on file. If you run a contract where that matters, and you want a cleaning and clearance partner who can prove where the waste went rather than promise it, we would like to talk.