Office waste disposal – City of Westminster

No VAT

Local authorities are exempt from charging VAT on commercial waste collections. As a result, this will help your offices cash flow by not having to pay VAT that other waste operators charge. 

Order waste bags online 

We have made ordering waste bags easier than ever before. You simply create an account on our online portal, from here you will have access to pre-order waste bags 24/7. Get started with your online portal.

Taking zero waste to landfill to the next level

As we mention further down the page, ‘zero waste’ is the term for sending no waste to landfill sites. Not only do we send no waste to landfill, but unlike other waste operators, our general waste is used to provide district heating for London homes and businesses.

Talk to our office waste management experts, they have decades of experience in helping your business achieve an environmentally friendly waste disposal service.

Our experts can provide you with valuable insights into how you can improve your current waste management practices, or offer you advice on services that may improve what you currently have in place.

Get in touch today to see how we can help your office venue improve its waste management.

This short guide covering commercial waste in the office sector outlines why Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services is your number one choice for office waste collections. The guide includes:

• Tips on how to handle your office waste correctly 
• How we help you comply with the law

There are also some benefits of using Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services that aren’t included in the guide. Since we are a local authority, we do not charge any VAT, this means our prices are 20% cheaper than private waste operators.

Not only this, but we put all of the waste we collect to good use. Our recyclables are sent to a local material recovery facility and our general waste is used to generate heat for local homes and businesses. The ash from the combusted general waste is even used on building projects. No matter the size of your office, the information within this guide remains the same and will provide some insight into waste management within offices.

This guide provides you with quick tips on how to reduce waste. There are particular subjects of interest to offices within the guide such as reducing paper waste and sending no waste to landfill. If you’re looking to reduce the amount of waste created in your office then this guide will help. The guide includes:

• Stopping potential waste from being produced in the first place
• Finding someone who can use things you no longer need
• Tips on how to reduce paper waste in the office
• Separating recyclable material from general waste
• Avoiding fines by placing bags out at the wrong time or having it packaged incorrectly.
• Sending all waste for recycling and zero to landfill

Not only will this guide help you reduce waste. It will help you reduce the time spent on managing your waste, the money spent on disposing of the waste and the negative impacts it may have on the environment.

If you’re looking for a new commercial waste partner to dispose of your office waste then this guide will be useful to you. It covers some important questions that you should be asking your potential new operator and how to identify a good choice from their responses. The guide includes:

• Assessing reliability of a waste operator
• Looking into costs and value for money
• Avoiding lengthy contracts
• Analysing their range of collections – do they offer everything your venue needs?

There are also aspects of this guide which are regularly forgotten, such as your businesses duty of care towards the environment and the support your waste partner can provide.

For us, it’s vital that there’s as little rubbish as possible on the streets of Westminster. Unlike other businesses in Westminster, offices often don’t have internal waste and recycling bins and therefore use bagged collections. To avoid streets having an excessive amount of waste and recycling bags on them, there are some rules in place which prevent this from happening.

1. Place your bags out at the right time

For offices who are placing rubbish bags and card bundles on the streets for collection, there are set times in place for this (these set times apply for household and business waste, irrespective of who will collect them. If you don’t know the collection time for your street, you can find the times for every street in Westminster via this link. 

It is important you only place out your rubbish bags 30 minutes prior to the start of the collection time. You can’t place rubbish bags on the street outside of collection times under any circumstance.

2. Your bags must be in the right place

You must place your rubbish bags outside of your own office, or as close to it’s building the line as possible. There are some types of waste that are not permitted to be placed on the street for collection. To find out more about this, click here.

3. Your rubbish must be in the right bag

If our collection crew notice that rubbish is not being placed in the correct bag, it can be left behind – you are completely responsible for ensuring your rubbish is in the right bag. Find out more about presenting your rubbish in the right bag.

4. Bags must be closed and tied up, with no leaks

The downside of using rubbish bags is that they come with a risk of leaking if they are not correctly tied up. This can cause staining and unsanitary patches on the street. You must ensure your rubbish bags don’t leak. See these tips on how to do this.

5. What happens if your rubbish is not presented correctly?

When rubbish is found out at the wrong time or placed in the incorrect bag, our enforcement officers will issue a fine or take prosecution action. 

The Commercial Waste service doesn’t look after the enforcement of waste rules and laws. This is done through the Street Management service who can issue fines (FPNs) and notices when rubbish is mismanaged (fly-tipping). This service operates on a 24/7 basis and is happy to assist you with any enforcement related questions. Find out more about what they do via this link.

Find out more about presenting rubbish bags in Westminster

‘Zero waste’ has recently become a widely recognised term and has been adopted by waste operators across the country. Although you might expect ‘zero waste’ to refer to no waste being produced at all (this would be impossible), the actual definition refers to not sending any waste to landfill sites. By using Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services for your office, you will always be achieving ‘zero waste’.

Although we will always encourage you to reduce the amount of waste you are producing in the first place, we understand that waste is inevitable and you will, at some point, require disposal of this. In this instance, it’s your responsibility to ensure that none of the waste produced in your office is sent to landfill. Here at Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services, we ensure that none of our waste gets sent to landfill. All of the recyclable materials we collect are sent to a local materials recovery facility where the materials are separated and prepared for manufacturing use. The leftover (general) waste from this is combusted at a local heat and power energy recovery facility. From here, the heat generated throughout the combustion process is used to heat London homes and businesses. The process of burning waste does leave a residue, we even make use of this. The ash left behind has been used in projects such as the widening of the M25 and even building the Olympic Stadium. This is something no other waste operator can offer you. If you want to see where all of the waste that we collect goes, download our infographic on this.

To see how the SELCHP energy recovery facility works, watch the short video below.

WRAP’s guide on waste management in office buildings

This guidance document provides practical advice for office managers in reducing and recovering waste during building operations. The guide covers areas such as: measuring and targeting waste reduction; developing a segregation strategy; and the appointment of a waste management company. Read the full guide.

How much carbon is your waste producing?

Find out how much carbon you can save by using Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services. Our calculator shows you how much carbon you can save by just implementing more recycling services into your businesses. Try it now. 

Office recycling tips from the sustainable business toolkit

This article provides 7 top tips for reducing your waste and implementing an effective recycling system that will obliterate your general waste production. There are some tips in this article that could completely change the way your office is managing its waste and make you more sustainable. See how this can help your business.

Waste posters to stick around your office

Our waste management posters are perfect for sticking up around your office or on your internal bins. They provide you with all of the information you need to separate your rubbish properly, making them the perfect poster on waste. Take a look at all of our office waste posters.

Even if you also have branches elsewhere we can assist you with setting up a waste management solution.