We have to separately dispose of any upholstered domestic seating items taken to our transfer stations as they may contain Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
Upholstered domestic seating includes any of the following items from homes or businesses:
- sofas
- sofa beds
- armchairs
- upholstered kitchen and dining room chairs
- upholstered stools and foot stools
- home office chairs
- futons
- bean bags
- floor and sofa cushions
The harmful pollutants can be in any part of seating made of, or containing, leather, synthetic leather, other fabric or foam.
If a load of waste contains any upholstered domestic seating items it will incur a higher charge per tonne. We have removed the minimum charge from this category, so if you are able to bring in items that contain POPs separately from other waste, then we can still continue to recycle and offer competitive rates on the other items.
If you are bringing upholstered domestic seating to our site, please make the weighbridge operator aware. And if you plan to dispose of any damaged items of upholstered seating, please tape up any rips or tears, or for larger areas wrap the item in polythene before bringing it to site.
Any domestic seating items which are not upholstered, for example, a wooden chair without a cushioned or textile back, seat, or arms and deckchairs, are not affected and will continue to be charged at normal disposal rates.
Guidance issued by the Environment Agency contains information on how these items should be stored and collected.
