FOI request (FOIR-616659861)

Disposal of carpets and other textile flooring materials by authorities in the South East

Requested Wed 22 May 2024
Responded Wed 29 May 2024

Firstly, thank you for your time. We have strived to keep our request as efficient as possible to answer, with mostly multiple-choice questions.

I am writing on behalf of a client, who is requesting information regarding the disposal of carpet waste and other textile flooring materials by authorities across the UK. We understand that in some areas of the UK collection and disposal responsibilities are shared depending on how the council(s) is structured. If the question should be directed to a higher/lower tier authority, please indicate who this would be in lieu of an answer.

Please see questions below (please mark multiple choice answers by typing - highlighting text is not visible via the WDTK request platform).

1. How many Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) do you operate in total and out of these how many accept carpets and other textile flooring materials (underlay, rugs, mats, covers) from:

a. Residents only

b. Commercial operators only

c. Residents and commercial operators

2. How are carpets and other textile flooring materials managed and stored at HWRCs?

a. In a separate sheltered container

b. In a separate unsheltered container

c. Mixed in with mattresses and other bulky household waste

d. Mixed in with residual and black bag waste

3. How are carpets and other textile flooring materials disposed of from HWRCs?

Please select one option:

a. Sent for recycling

b. Sent for landfill

c. Sent for incineration for energy recovery (please specify type - RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) or SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel))

4. Do you provide residents with a bulky household waste collection service, and does this service accept carpets and other textile flooring materials?

Please answer yes or no

5. How are carpets and other textile flooring materials collected via the bulky household waste service disposed of?

a. Sent for recycling

b. Sent for landfill

c. Sent for incineration for energy recovery (please specify type - RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) or SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel))

6. Do you collect, record and report data and information on carpets and other textile flooring materials collected at both HWRCs and via the bulky household waste service?

Please specify yes or no for each service

7. If yes, is this data and information broken down by material type and recorded using the government database WasteDataFlow?

Please answer yes, no or not applicable

8. Does your authority have plans to revise how carpets and other textile flooring materials are collected, stored and/or disposed of in the next 12 months?

Please answer yes or no

9. If yes, please give details about how you plan to revise these processes.

10. What are your authority's biggest challenges in accepting and processing carpets and other textile flooring materials?

Please select from the list below

a. Storage space and bulky nature of materials

b. Limited recycling and disposal options

c. Cost of processing these materials

d. All the above

11. Where possible, please provide URLs for pages on your website which provide relevant information about HWRCs, a bulky household waste collection service and/or any other resources relating to the disposal of carpets and other textile flooring materials.

Response

Q1 - 3. Hastings Borough Council (HBC) does not have any Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC's) that we operate. There is 1 HWRC in Hastings which is run by East Sussex County Council:

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk

Q4. Yes, and yes.

Q5 - 7. HBC is only the collection authority, not the disposal authority, we record tonnage only, not the items.

Q8 - 9. No.

Q10. HBC does not store, we dispose of the same day. However, as above, we only collect and do not process. Items collected are taken to the recycling site for them to arrange disposal.

Q11. https://www.hastings.gov.uk/waste_recycling/bulky/

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling/how-we-manage-our-waste/what-happens-to-our-waste