Working together to stop dumping
Most businesses in the borough have a contract with the council or a private company to dispose of their rubbish. If you are one of these businesses, we'd like to say thank you for doing the right thing.
A small minority don't have a waste disposal contract and simply dump their rubbish on the street or mix it with domestic waste.
- Dumping is not fair on businesses who do the right thing.
- It damages trade by making the streets unsightly.
- It costs us £135,000 a year to remove dumped rubbish – money we could spend on protecting vulnerable children, looking after elderly people and supporting businesses in the borough.
So we're going to be identifying more businesses who dump rubbish and fining or prosecuting them.
You can help us by reporting dumped rubbish on our Report it page.
Arrange a commercial waste contract
To set up a competitively-priced waste and recycling collection service, contact us now:
- commercial waste contract application form
- email us at commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk
- call us on 020 8753 3021.
More about commercial waste services
- Site assessment request
- Duty of care - your responsibilities
- Enforcement
- Commercial waste specialist companies
- Hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste
- Save money by recycling
- Waste legislation and regulations
- Bin services
- Special collections and bulky waste items
- Collection days and times
- Bank holiday collection schedules
- Interruptions to service
- How to present waste
- Payments
- Contract of agreement
- Commercial waste PDF guides
- Illegally dumped and fly tipped waste
- Contact commercial services
- Reporting waste crime
Site assessment requests
We need full access including a dropped kerb for larger bins, where appropriate, to empty waste containers. To find out more, please contact the cleaner greener hotline on 020 8753 3021 and ask for a visit from our commercial waste officer. Or email commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk including the subject heading 'Site Assessment Requests' and your business contact details.
Duty of care
Your legal duty to take care of trade waste, what this means and how it affects your business
Under Environmental Protection Act 1990 anyone who produces, imports, keeps, stores, transports, treats or disposes of waste has a duty to take all reasonable steps to keep it safe.
The Duty of Care applies to all businesses and if the Duty of Care is broken you may be prosecuted and fined an unlimited amount. We want to ensure this does not happen to your business.
The law says you must 'take all reasonable steps' to fulfil the duty and complete an annual Waste Transfer Note. What is 'reasonable' depends on what you do with your waste. For example, you must stop waste escaping from your control by storing it safely and securely and you must also prevent it from causing pollution or harming anyone.
The following steps may be considered reasonable in meeting the duty of care:
- Keep all waste in a suitable container. Avoid any leakage of fluid and grease by first wrapping food and vegetable matter in paper. If you put loose waste in a skip or on a lorry, cover it and ensure it is well lit at night.
- As our commercial waste collection is not included in your business rates you must pay for an authorised waste collector to remove your waste from your premises. Please note that the waste generated by your business will not be collected with household waste - you will breach the duty of care if you allow this to happen.
- If you give waste to someone else, which may include a contract cleansing company, check that they are an authorised waste carrier.
- Each year you must describe the waste in writing by completing a form called a Waste Transfer Note. Your authorised waste collector will provide you with one of these which will cover all your waste transfers for one year only. By law you must keep a copy of your 'Waste Transfer Note' for up to two years.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, every business has a legal duty of care to ensure that the waste produced, however small or large the amount, is disposed of properly by a licensed waste carrier.
As a business you are also legally required to keep copies of your trade waste contract for the previous two years. The Enforcement Team can request documents for up to the past two years. Failure to show these may result in a fixed penalty notice of up to £300 or the matter being referred to court, where if found guilty a fine of up to £5000 may be given.
Further guidance can be found on the business and commercial waste page on GOV.UK.
Enforcement
Enforcement officers may enforce against those who breach the Duty of Care to ensure all waste is put out for collection at the right time and disposed of legally. If you suspect someone is breaking the law please contact the cleaner greener hotline below.
Commercial waste specialist removal companies
There are several licensed specialist waste companies operating in Hammersmith & Fulham, contact us for further advice:
020 8753 3021
cleaner.greener@lbhf.gov.uk
Specialist oil disposal
Proper Oils provides a free collection service:
freecollections@properoils.co.uk
Raw meat disposal
The DEFRA help line can provide up-to-date information on licensed raw meat carriers:
03459 335 577.
Non-hazardous waste
Disposal of non-hazardous waste - advice on GOV.UK.
Hazardous waste
The City of London operates a household hazardous waste collection and disposal service. They will collect wrapped asbestos and boxed chemicals including paint.
Hazardous waste collection on City of London website
Save money by recycling
Reducing waste by recycling means less environmental impact and can save your business money. Contact us to find out more.
We can recycle all clean and dry: paper (not shredded paper) and card, food and drink cartons, (also tetra pak), glass bottles and jars, cans, tins, empty aerosol cans, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays (rigid plastics - no lids). A recycling fact sheet is available on request.
Waste legislation and regulations
Bin services
Black bin with a black lid for commercial waste.
This bin service is ideal for those businesses who have space on site to move and store these type of bins.
A risk assessment will need to be completed by a commercial waste officer before a bin can be delivered.
Bin services are available in various sizes of: 360/660/1100/1280 litre capacity. The 1100 and 1280 litre bins are used more widely in the UK than any other bins.
| Bin size | Width | Depth | Height |
|---|---|---|---|
| 360 litres | 580 mm | 880 mm | 1100 mm |
| 660 litres | 1205 mm | 775 mm | 1340 mm |
| 1100 litres | 1205 mm | 980 mm | 1340 mm |
| 1280 litres | 1260 mm | 990 mm | 1470 mm |
Galvanised steel construction on 660/1100/1280 litre bins mean that they are hard wearing, resistant to fire and have a watertight lid closure to keep out rain and water. All of our bins come fully fitted with easily operated brakes on the front castors (360L bins do not have brakes or locks).
Some of our bins are lockable and come with a key. Extra keys are available on request and are chargeable.
All agreements can be tailored to meet the needs of the individual businesses for collections and can be arranged seven days a week for waste and five days a week for recycling (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Black bin with orange lid for recycling
This mixed recycling service is also available and is offered at a substantially reduced rate from your ordinary waste collection. We can recycle all clean and dry: paper (not shredded paper) and card, food and drink cartons, (also tetra pak), glass bottles and jars, cans, tins, empty aerosol cans, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays (rigid plastics - no lids). A separate recycling fact sheet is available on request..
Special collections and bulky waste items
Contact the cleaner greener hotline on 020 8753 1100 to arrange this.
You can recycle many office items like furniture or arrange for a specialist recycling contractor to take recycling such as paper.
Collection times and days
Collection timings depend on individual agreements, this allows us to keep the streets clear of unnecessary obstructions. Commercial container collections are available seven days a week for waste and six days for recycling.
You can only put your waste on the street at certain times of the day, please check your agreement.
Put bags out after 6pm and before 10pm on the evening of your collection day.
Put bins out after 9pm on the eve of your collection and before 6am on the day of your collection.
Please make sure you put your bags/bins out on the correct days and times.
Interruptions to your normal collection service
Missed collections - If your collection has not been collected as normal please call us on 020 8753 1100. When calling please include as much information as you can to help us find out what happened.
Long term disruptions - If you expect long term interruptions to your service perhaps due to to road works or construction activities that prevent access to your normal collection presentation point, please tell us.
We will investigate and either temporarily suspend collections if it is unsafe to continue, or arrange an alternative collection point. We can't offer compensation for non collection, but we will do our best to help.
Contact the cleaner greener hotline 020 8753 1100 to report it. If the matter is not resolved please quote your reference log number in an email to commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk
Bank holiday collection schedules
The normal collection schedule remains unchanged on all bank holidays except during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
See Commercial waste collections for the Christmas and New Year holiday period for 2024-25.
How to present waste and recycling for collection
Help us by correctly presenting and placing out your commercial waste and recycling at the times and collection points in your agreement.
We can only collect cardboard as recycling if it is in small tied bundles of flattened cardboard pieces with one business recycling bag attached to each bundle.
All wheeled council containers are clearly labelled with our signage and should be stored within the curtilage of the your property for collection. We need full access including a dropped kerb for larger bins to empty the containers. To find out about a container based contract, please call us on 020 8753 1100.
Payments
Monthly direct debit instalments. For a form, contact commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk or call the trade team on 020 8753 3021.
Pay online - choose 'Other council invoices' from the list. You will need your TR account reference and your invoice number.
Problems with paying - for confidential help call the Debt Recovery Team on 020 8753 1622 or email commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk
Contract of agreement
All of our customers have taken out a contact of agreement.
There is a minimum of a three month termination period on all contracts. Please write to us with your account details and contact information.
Revising or changing your agreement
Because waste fluctuates, we offer a flexible service that allows customers to increase or decrease their collection service every three months. This helps to lower your costs and keeps collections on schedule. To revise your contract please call 020 8753 3021 or email commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk
Commercial waste pdf guides
How to present waste and recycling for collection (pdf 393KB)
Container specifications (pdf 1.3MB)
Illegally dumped and fly tipped waste
Our enforcement team and street monitoring officers are committed to ensuring that those responsible for all illegally dumped waste are identified and prosecution of the offenders pursued wherever possible.
Reported fly-tipping to the street scene enforcement team on 020 8753 1100 or via the online report it form so it can be investigated and cleared. Report fly tipping online form
Contact us
Commercial waste 020 8753 3021 (office hours 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday) or email commercialwaste@lbhf.gov.uk
For missed collections, fly tipping and other general enquiries about your waste collection service please call the Cleaner greener hotline 020 8753 1100 (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday) or email cleaner.greener@lbhf.gov.uk
Reporting waste crime
Enforcement officers may enforce against those who breach the Duty of Care agreement to ensure all waste is put out for collection at the right time and disposed of legally. If you suspect someone is breaking the law please call us on 020 8753 1100.