The government has opened a consultation on preventing charges for DIY waste at household waste recycling centres and call for evidence on booking systems at household waste recycling centres.
Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) play an important role in helping people manage the waste they produce in a convenient and sustainable way. They play a key role in supporting kerbside collections and in boosting recycling. They need to be accessible to all residents – both in when they are available, and by not charging fees some may be unable to afford.
– Government
You might wonder what this has to do with ecommerce, but for those in the DIY materials and tools market it is a blocker to sales – if a householder has to pay to get rid of waste from DIY projects they’ll buy fewer materials and be more reluctant to get stuck in to knocking down garden walls, ripping out plasterboard and pretty much anything else that produces chargeable waste.
Marketplaces like eBay, ManoMano, Amazon, and B&Q all cater heavily for DIY enthusiasts so disposal of waste from projects is indirectly key to their sales. The Government believes householders should not be charged to dispose of scrap materials from projects they undertake and that easy disposal of waste by householders could reduce fly-tipping.
It’s worth noting that the intention is to make it free for householders to dispose of DIY waste for free when they undertake projects on their own houses. Many household waste recycling centres still charge for certain materials and this is what the Government wants to address. It’s not intended to make it free to dispose of waste if you have a tradesperson in to do the work as they will operate as a business and rightly should price in waste disposal when they quote you for the job.
If this is an issue important to you, whether as a DIY enthusiast or as a business that supplies materials and tools for the DIY industry, make your voice heard by completing the consultation survey here.
