Rubbish removal questions, answered

We work from 7am to 7pm. Messages that come in outside those hours get a reply the next working day.

We reply to every enquiry the same working day. Collection dates depend on what's already booked, so we'll give you the options when we send the price.

One wide shot showing the whole pile, then close-ups of anything large or awkward. If it's in a loft or cellar, a photo of the access helps too. Use the photo quote to send them.

We'll show you the difference and give you a revised price before loading. You can agree, or keep some of it back. We won't load first and argue later.

Not always. If the waste is in a garden, a yard or an unlocked outbuilding, we can collect while you're out once the price is agreed. For anything inside, someone needs to let us in.

Yes. The load size estimator compares your pile to car boots and skips so you can describe it more easily.

Yes, any size. Mattresses aren't covered by the POPs rules for upholstered seating, so they don't need the separate handling a sofa does.

Yes. They're classed as hazardous waste because of the coolant and insulation foam, so they go to a facility permitted to treat them, not in with general waste. Please empty and defrost them first.

Yes, bagged or loose. It's heavy, so tell us roughly how many bags or how much ground it covers. Plasterboard has to be kept separate from rubble, so mention it.

Dried-out, empty tins are fine. Liquid paint isn't. Leeds recycling sites take paint from households, and the Seagulls reuse scheme collects usable tins at those sites.

Yes. The Leeds brown bin usually pauses from late November until spring, and we collect garden waste all year, including branches too thick for the bin.

Ask us first. Pianos vary a lot in weight, and a hot tub needs emptying and disconnecting. Send photos of the item and the route out, and check other items in the what can you take checker.

Yes. Householders have a legal duty of care to give waste only to an authorised carrier. Leeds City Council says a fly-tip traced back to you can mean a £200 fixed penalty or prosecution.

Ask for their registration number. In England it starts CBDU. Search it on the Environment Agency public register and check the name, the tier (upper tier for carrying other people's waste) and the expiry date. Step-by-step guide.

No. Householders aren't required to produce one for their own household waste. We give you a receipt showing who took it, what it was and where it's going.

No. Government guidance says waste from clearing a property after the tenants have left counts as commercial waste. You need a waste transfer note, which we provide, and the council tips won't accept it.

Two years for ordinary waste. Hazardous waste consignment notes are kept for three. Both parties keep a copy and must show it to the council or the Environment Agency if asked.

Many contain POPs, chemicals once used as flame retardants. In England, upholstered seating has to be kept separate and destroyed by incineration. Landfill isn't allowed, and a mixed load has to be treated as POPs waste.

Usually, yes. At the time of writing, Leeds households get one free collection of up to five items a year, then £30 each for up to three more. If that fits your job, use it.

When there are more than five items, when things are inside the house, when you're a landlord or business, or when the items are on the council's excluded list, such as bathroom suites, kitchen units and rubble.

If you live in Leeds and have a car, the eight household waste recycling sites take most things free. Vans and trailers need a permit, staff can't help you unload, and trade and landlord waste is banned.

The council publishes minimum disposal costs, excluding labour. Examples include £36.25 for a sofa and two armchairs and £15.99 for a mattress. It warns that quotes below these probably mean the waste will be fly-tipped.

No. Wakefield, Bradford, Kirklees and Harrogate run their own tips and collections with their own rules. Check your own council's website, and ask us if their option doesn't fit the job.